Voicing protest against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's alliance with arch-rival Rashtriya Janata Dal, Senior JD(U) leader Lalan Paswan on Thursday quit the party. Paswan wrote a letter to JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh stating he was stepping down from the post of the state vice president, besides giving up primary membership of the party.
He alleged that "there has been a spurt in crimes against Dalits, but the government seems to have lost the will to check rising incidence of murders and sexual violence" since the JD(U) allied with RJD a year ago.
Although there was no official word from the party on Paswan's resignation, sources in the JD(U) claimed that he has been a party "hopper".
Who is Lalan Paswan
Paswan had won from Chenari Assembly for the first time in the year 2005 on a JD(U) ticket. In 2009, he resigned from the party and contested elections on an RJD ticket from the Sasaram reserved Lok Sabha constituency. However, he was defeated by Meira Kumar. After remaining in the political wilderness for years, Paswan joined the now-defunct RLSP of Upendra Kushwaha and became an MLA on its ticket in 2015, only to revolt a few years later and join the JD(U).
The JD(U) sources also said Paswan's unease with the party joining the Mahagathbandhan is in part because Congress' Murari Gautam, by whom he was defeated in 2020 assembly polls, has been inducted into the state cabinet.
(With inputs from PTI)
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