Bihar’s ruling JD(U) has identified a dozen senior leaders and about 500 workers who would face disciplinary action for allegations of their aggressive non-cooperation with the party during the Assembly polls. Several party MPs figure in the list, action on which would begin in January.
Over a month after the Assembly polls, the JD(U)’s disciplinary committee said on Friday that its analysis of the party’s election campaigns and consultations with a wide array of its leaders has resulted in the identification of a dozen senior leaders and nearly 500 activists as those involved in anti-party activities.
“The list is ready now. There are some MPs and former MLAs who indulged in serious anti-party activities before and during the polls in ways that could have been damaging to the party’s prospects. Some 500 workers figure in this list prepared after considering all possible angles,” said JD(U) legislator and disciplinary committee convenor Gyanendra Kumar Singh.
The senior rebel leaders in the list, according to sources, include JD(U) MPs Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan (Munger), Monazir Hasan (Begusarai), Mahabali Singh (Karakat) and Sushil Kumar Singh (Aurangabad). It was immediately unclear if the party’s Muzaffarpur MP, Jainarayan Nishad, also figures in the list for his share of “non-cooperative activities” during the campaigns.
Hasan, apart from being a critic of CM Nitish Kumar, had got his wife, Shabnam Parveen, to contest the Assembly polls in Munger on an RJD ticket. She lost the polls, but Hasan, a former minister in Mr Kumar’s Cabinet, also lost his government bungalow on Patna’s Bailey Road earlier this month as the party began its “action against the rebels”. Lalan, a former Bihar JD(U) chief, waged a powerful campaign against Mr Kumar and openly worked for the Congress without resigning from the regional party. Mahabali Singh’s son and Sushil Kumar Singh’s brother had contested the Assembly polls on RJD tickets with the MPs reportedly working to ensure their victory.