JD-U suspends party MLA Rajiv Ranjan for 6 years

Janata Dal-United on Friday suspended Islampur MLA Rajiv Ranjan from the party for six years accusing him of “anti-party activities”, days after he attacked his party’s government in Bihar over “unabated corruption” after having earlier opposed a tie-up with Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.

“Party president Sharad Yadav has suspended Islampur MLA Rajiv Ranjan for six years considering his activities as anti-party. Yadav has directed all party leaders to maintain discipline and fight for social justice. There is no place for any kind of anti-party activities,” JD-U general secretary K C Tyagi said in a statement.

Rajiv Ranjan, who is an MLA from Islampur that falls in former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s home district Nalanda, had earlier written a letter to the state JD-U president Basistha Narayan Singh in which he opposed a tie-up between JD-U and RJD expressing strong reservation against the tie-up with RJD, which he alleged had created “jungle raj” (lawlessness) in Bihar during its tenure.

A few days back, Ranjan slammed the state government led by Jitan Ram Manjhi over corruption saying that in prevailing situation in the state, it is time to adopt a new law by the name of Right to Bribe in Bihar.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, JD-U could win just two out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar going down from its tally of 20 seats in 2009 Lok Sabha poll.

After the defeat, JD-U joined hands with archrival RJD to take on a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party and both Lalu Prasaad and Nitish Kumar jointly campaigned for the bye-election in Bihar for which voting took place on Thursday.

The suspension letter also gives a warning to other senior leaders making statements contradicting the party’s stand. “Yadav has also cautioned the top office bearers that they should avoid making contradictory statements,” Tyagi said.

JD-U leader and former minister Shakuni Choudhary had said that former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar should “quit politics rather than being insulted by Lalu Prasad”.