Patna, Dec. 25: The JDU might be in power, but its MLAs complain they are having a tough time as administrators and top cops reportedly give them the short shrift.

A few party MLAs revealed this on condition of anonymity. They also said the civil servants were, instead, giving importance to BJP leaders on the assumption that the BJP would form the next state government.

Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi recently held a meeting in this regard with all district magistrates (DMs) and superintendents of police (SPs) where he instructed them to hear out and solve lawmakers’ problems.

However, despite instructions from the top, the lawmakers continue to face a tough time at work.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a JDU MLA from Gopalganj district said: “Two days back, I approached a minister and requested him to get my work done. But he turned me down saying the district SP does not listen to him. In fact, the minister told me they are not listening to anyone. I tried on my own and got a similar response from the SP. He made my problem even more complicated by giving plenty of excuses. Later, I realised, he was not keen to do my work. It seems that they have made up their minds not to listen to us.”

Ever since the JDU and BJP parted ways, the tussle for power between both party leaders has been evident on several occasions. The first example is the continuation of janata durbar by senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister in the NDA government, Sushil Kumar Modi.

The sulking ruling party MLAs gave the impression that though Modi does not hold any significant post, officers still take his orders seriously.

Another JDU MLA from Rohtas district said: “The officers in the district have gone crazy. They are not listening to us. In fact, I had to approach a BJP leader, who is a minister in the Union cabinet, to get my work done. We are feeling insulted despite being lawmakers. I really do not how much more insult we have to put up with in the coming days.”

That the BJP has a kind of upper hand can also be seen from the fact that more leaders have joined the BJP than the JDU in recent days.

In the last three months, as many as 20 prominent leaders, including JDU’s extremely backward classes (EBC) cell president Ram Badan Rai and former JDU MP Monazir Hassan, joined the BJP. That apart, three former DGPs — Ashish Ranjan Sinha, Ashok Gupta and Hira Prasad — also joined the party. Several other JDU leaders — including Islampur MLA Rajiv Ranjan and disqualified MLAs of the party — are reportedly queuing up to join the BJP.

In comparison, not a single prominent leader from any party, but for a few district leaders from the LJP and the Congress, has joined the JDU.

A senior BJP leader admitted that he has getting any number of calls after the Jharkhand results. These calls had come down after the bypoll results in which the BJP won just four seats while six went to the JDU-Congress-RJD alliance.