Former JD(U) Critic Arun Kumar Returns to Party After Threatening to 'Break Nitish Kumar's Ribs'

Former Jehanabad MP Arun Kumar has made a significant political comeback by rejoining the Janata Dal (United) party in Patna on Saturday. The 66-year-old politician, who had previously been an outspoken critic of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, was welcomed back into the fold alongside several of his supporters.

The induction ceremony was attended by prominent JD(U) leaders including working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan', and state unit chief Umesh Kushwaha. The event marked a reconciliation between former rivals within the party.

During the ceremony, Lalan, a former national president of JD(U), remarked on the warm embrace shared between Arun Kumar and Chandeshwar Chandravanshi, predicting they would create a political "storm" throughout the Magadh region. Interestingly, Chandravanshi had narrowly defeated Kumar for the Jehanabad seat in 2019 by approximately 2,000 votes.

Arun Kumar's political journey has been noteworthy. He first won the Jehanabad seat for JD(U) in 1999. After a falling out with the party, during which he famously threatened to "break the ribs of Nitish Kumar," he went on to reclaim the seat in 2014 as a candidate of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), a breakaway faction led by Upendra Kushwaha.

Following disagreements with Kushwaha, Kumar established his own political entity, the Bharatiya Sab Log Party, which failed to gain traction in both the 2020 assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls last year.

Political analysts view Kumar's return to JD(U) as a strategic move to counterbalance the potential damage caused by the departure of Rahul Sharma, another influential Bhumihar leader from Jehanabad, who recently joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) under Tejashwi Yadav's leadership.

Sharma comes from a politically significant family. His father, Jagdish Sharma, is a prominent figure in the region who represented Ghosi constituency eight times on tickets from various parties including Janata Party, Congress, and BJP. In 2009, Jagdish Sharma also won the Jehanabad Lok Sabha seat for JD(U).