In less than a week, four MLAs, including two senior ministers, have quit the party and joined the Janata Dal (United), giving a severe jolt to the prospects of Laloo Prasad Yadav's outfit in the ongoing elections.

Industry Minister Baidyanath Pandey, who resigned this morning from the state cabinet and the party, was not just any other minister. He was one of the trusted lieutenants of the former Bihar Chief Minister. When Laloo was sent to judicial custody in the animal husbandry scam, he was among the few assigned the task of assisting Rabri Devi in administering the state.

Therefore, those in the know of things were taken aback when Pandey announced this morning that he was joining the JD (U). There are indications that more RJD leaders may follow suit.

On Saturday, state law minister Deonath Prasad had quit the RJD. He was preceded by partyMLAs Raj Kishore Sinha (Vaishali) and Ravinder Singh (Arwal). All these leaders have joined the JD (U).

While Pandey is a Bhumihar, a caste which even otherwise is opposed to Laloo, the rest are members of backward castes and have their own pockets of influence. While Prasad and Singh are Koeris, Sinha is a Kurmi.

With the entry of Prasad and Singh, the JD (U) hopes to overcome the setback it had received with the exit of Shakuni Chaudhary. A member of the dissolved Lok Sabha, he is also a Koeri.

Even before the poll process started, the RJD suffered a setback when former Union Minister Jai Narayan Prasad Nishad, who was also a member of the dissolved Lok Sabha, quit the party and joined the JD (U). An influential member of the `mallah,' a backward, caste, Nishad holds considerable sway over the members of his community.

Indeed, since then, JD (U) leaders George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan have been making full use of this development by unleashing Nishad in Barh, Samastipur,Jhanjharpur, Muzzafarpur, Motihari, Rosera and Sitamarhi --constituencies which have a substantial `mallah' population.