Taking a tough stand against party dissidents, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday expelled senior leader Shivanand Tiwari and four sitting MPs from the JD(U) for their 'anti-party activities’.
The expelled party leaders include four Lok Sabha members Jai Narain Nishad, Purnmasi Ram, Sushil Kumar Singh, Mangani Lal Mandal and Shivanand Tiwari, who is the party’s former Rajya Sabha member.
The expulsion letter issued by JD(U) general secretary KC Tyagi says party president Sharad Yadav had expelled them but did not mention the reasons. The four Lok Sabha MPs were earlier suspended from the party for hobnobbing with other political parties.
Shivanand Tiwari, who was earlier denied a party ticket for the Rajya Sabha, was very critical of the functioning of his state. Tiwari had accused Nitish Kumar of engineering defection in the RJD and accused the CM of being arrogant.