Lalu aide and RJD MLC expelled from House for ‘mimicking’ Nitish: Who is Sunil Singh?

The then Council chairperson Devesh Chandra Thakur’s attention was sought towards the “errant” behaviour of the RJD MLC, who had also attacked the CM on several other occasions, often with the standard line that “Nitish has been CM for 18 years without being directly elected by the people”.

The motion for Singh’s expulsion was passed by the Upper House by voice vote, a day after the Ethics Committee headed by JD(U) leader Ramvachan Rai submitted its report to its acting chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh.

The Council expelled Singh even though the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the House, Rabri Devi of the RJD, opposed the move, saying that he should be given a chance to present his side of the story. But the Chair declined, with Singh losing his membership two years before the end of his scheduled term.

Talking to media persons later, Singh alleged, “The CM would often threaten to destroy me as I have often raised issues of corruption against his government. He was looking for a chance to get me expelled from the Council. A conspiracy was hatched in the CM House in April to remove me as an MLC.”

Singh claimed that while he did not remember mimicking the CM, even doing that would not be an offence. “We often see people copying the mannerism of the PM, and MPs attacking him. But no action is taken,” he said.

There is however more than what meets the eye, say RJD insiders. An RJD leader said: “While Singh’s expulsion is highly condemnable, and is black chapter in Bihar’s legislative history as remarked by our leader Rabri Devi, Singh had also perhaps exceeded his brief. Ever since he became an MLC, he looked for opportunities to attack the CM. While Singh earlier did so with proper homework – using comparative data during debates on the Budget in 2021, he later began making direct and indirect personal attacks on the CM.”

This continued even after Nitish Kumar had crossed over from the NDA to become the CM in the Mahagathbandhan government in August 2022, thereby making the JD(U) and the RJD coalition partners. Singh would then launch veiled attack on Nitish in social media. Top RJD leaders would often advise him to refrain from doing so but his proximity to party chief Lalu Prasad meant that he could have his way. It was said that even the RJD’s LoP

in the Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, did not appreciate Singh’s overt criticism of Nitish.

An upper caste Rajput leader from Saran, Singh has been associated with the RJD for over two decades. He has been the party treasurer. He played a key role in the Lok Sabha polls by heading the campaign of Saran RJD candidate Rohini Acharya, Lalu’s daughter.

Singh also faced the CBI’s raids in August 2022 in connection with its probe into the IRCTC case against Lalu Prasad and his family members. As per Singh’s election affidavit in 2020, his assets were worth over Rs 23 crore.

A JD(U) source said: “Sunil Singh had gone overboard in criticising Nitish Kumar. While Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav are well within their rights to criticise the CM, an MLC like Singh taking on the CM often, did not go down well with us. How can someone lampoon the CM?”

JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar defended the Council’s decision to expel Singh. “Every legislative procedure was followed. The Ethics Committee found that Singh was unapologetic, while his colleague and partner in crime Qari Sohaib apologised for the same misconduct and was suspended only for two days. Singh had exceeded his legislative limits and was duly punished.”

Meanwhile, the Nitish-led NDA government has also turned up heat on Sunil Singh by staying the election in the Bihar State Cooperative Marketing Union (BISCOMAUN), which is headed by Singh, who has completed his term as its managing director, and is reportedly trying to field his wife for the position. BISCOMAUN is the apex cooperative society responsible for the purchase of grains from farmers and distributing subsidised fertilisers to them.