Journalism of Courage
Having raised a banner of revolt against the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), senior party leader and former Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary on Wednesday said the BJP has dwarfed Nitish ever since the Bihar chief minister went back to the NDA, which has sapped the spirit of party workers and has led to resignation of several local-level leaders and workers.
“My leader (Nitish) had a stature bigger than Prime Minister Narendra Modi before joining the NDA. But Nitishji has been dwarfed now, and this has demotivated party rank and file,” he told The Indian Express.
On Wednesday, he held a meeting at Imamganj, in Gaya district, and claimed that six leaders have quit the party to express solidarity with issues he is raising. They include Baleshwar Prasad Bind, a member of JD(U)’s national council, he claimed.
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Dismissing Choudhary’s claims, the JD(U) said these local leaders were expelled last week for “anti-party activities”.
Choudhary is opposing the state government’s flagship students’ credit card scheme and has demanded restoration of the earlier scholarship scheme.
Besides Bind, Gaya district JD(U) spokespersons Brajesh Singh and Sajid Ahmed Bagi, party’s Imamganj block president Prahlad Prasad, Dumaria block chief Surendra Prasad Singh and Banke Bazar block chief Rajkumar Yadav are the others who have resigned, Choudhary said.
On Tuesday, he had said that RJD chief Lalu Prasad stands to gain politically from his second conviction in the fodder scam.
Choudhary today told The Indian Express: “These five leaders, along with more than 500 JD(U) workers, have resigned from the party after today’s Imamganj meeting. The JD(U) leadership has been ignoring voices of dissent. If they had been expelled, why was there no news about their expulsion?”
JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said Choudhary is “charting his own political course”. He said the party will not read too much into his defiance, and his “praise for a convicted Lalu Prasad”. He said the Gaya leaders had been expelled a week ago but Choudhary is trying to twist the development in his favour.
