The rebel group, which is headed by Rashtriya Janata Dal's chief whip in Bihar assembly Rakesh Kumar, better known as Samrat Choudhary, met Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary this afternoon to apprise him of the split. They also asked the Speaker to declare them as "unattached" to the party.
The Speaker reportedly immediately recognized the breakaway faction as a separate group. They are likely to join the ruling Janata Dal (United), say sources.
"Have heard about it, not true, still finding out," said Mr Prasad on being asked about the split.
But the MLAs justified their revolt by saying that the RJD had turned into the "B-team of Congress". "Ourneta is playing in the lap of a politician who sent him to jail," rebel MLA Javed Ansari told NDTV, referring to the controversial ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers that was scrapped following Rahul Gandhi's dramatic intervention last year.
The dissident group comprises five Muslim lawmakers, and three members from Mr Yadav's caste.
In the 2010 assembly polls, the RJD was almost routed, and could only win 22 seats in an assembly with a total strength of 243. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) had won 115 seats, and its alliance partner BJP 91. The JD(U) went solo in June last year after it snapped its ties with the BJP in protest against Narendra Modi's elevation as his party's chief campaigner.
The split in the RJD comes at a time when Mr Yadav is busy finalizing a seat-sharing deal with the Congress, Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party and Sharad Pawar's NCP. Miffed with Mr Yadav's intransigence over parting with 10 Lok Sabha seats, the LJP has now started sending overtures to the BJP.
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