JD(U) cracks whip on Sharad Yadav loyalists, sacks 21 Bihar leaders for anti-party activities

Cracking a whip against Sharad Yadav loyalists, the Bihar unit of JD(U) on Monday sacked 21 party leaders for anti-party activities, CNN News18 reported.

#Bihar JDU state president Vashistha Narayan Singh suspended 21 party members from their primary memberships over anti-party activities. pic.twitter.com/yEXoYyzOJI

— ANI (@ANI) August 14, 2017

According to ANI, among the 21 leaders suspended by Bihar unit chief Vashistha Narayan Singh is Arjun Rai, a former MP from Sitamarhi_._ The development assumes significance as Yadav was sacked as the leader of the JD(U) in the Rajya Sabha on Saturday . Yadav was replaced by RCP Singh. A day earlier, the JD(U) had suspended its Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar Ansari from the parliamentary party after he attended a meeting of opposition parties convened by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. [caption id=“attachment_3929737” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sharad Yadav. PTI[/caption] Ever since Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar ended his party’s alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress on 27 July to join hands with former ally BJP, Yadav had been at loggerheads with the party leadership. Showing his disapproval of the new alliance, Yadav had on Thursday said that Nitish had “betrayed the people’s mandate”. “The trust of 11 crore people who gave mandate to form the grand alliance government in Bihar was broken. The agreement of ‘gathbandhan’ (grand alliance) was for five years which was broken…I am hurt by this. I continue to stand for the ‘gathbandhan’,” he said. Yadav also claimed that the ‘original party’ is still with him, hinting at an imminent split within the party. At a function at Sonepur on Thursday, Yadav said, “Sarkari JD(U) is with Nitish Kumar while the original party is with me. The original JD(U) in association with secular forces would form a government after the next general election.” However, notwithstanding Yadav’s claim, only former minister Ramai Ram and a handful of partymen were seen with him during his tour of Bihar. Yadav was on a state-wide tour to hold “direct dialogue” with the people. However, JD(U) under Nitish distanced itself from Yadav’s tour. RJD supporters were, however, seen in large numbers receiving him at Patna airport as well as during his tour indicating Lalu Prasad’s wholehearted support to him. With inputs from agencies