Patna, Apr 16 (PTI) Former IPS officer Mohammad Nurul Hoda joined the Mukesh Sahni-led Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), an alliance partner of the INDIA bloc, here on Wednesday.

Hoda, a 1995-batch IPS officer and a native of Bihar’s Sitamarhi district, joined VIP at a function in the state capital.

“He has formally joined the VIP… he will work for the betterment of people of the state,” Sahni, a former Bihar minister, said. Hoda resigned from his post as IG, Railways, and took voluntary retirement prior to joining the party.

“We met two months ago in Delhi, where he had expressed his desire to join VIP. He will also contest the Bihar assembly elections due later this year. In all probability, he will contest from Sitamarhi,” Sahni said.

Hoda’s entry into politics follows that of another high-profile former IPS officer, Shivdeep Lande, who recently launched his own political party, the Hind Sena, in Bihar.

Meanwhile, Sahni also denied speculations about his return to the NDA.

“I will never come back to the NDA… it’s a sinking ship now,” he asserted.

Earlier, Bihar BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal had claimed that “certain constituents of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ are in touch with us… they are not feeling comfortable there (with the INDIA bloc)”.

“These are baseless claims… There is no question of joining the NDA. He (Jaiswal) is the person responsible for the split in my party when all three MLAs had joined the BJP in 2022. The next government in Bihar will be formed under the leadership of (RJD leader) Tejashwi Yadav,” Sahni asserted.

“Nitish Kumar (Bihar CM) is a tired man now… and he is running the government with retired officers. Bihar needs a young leader like Tejashwi Yadav,” Sahni added. PTI PKD RBT