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The people’s newsroom

PoliticsNDA

Kushwaha's RLM suspends leader who took on NDA candidate; three MLAs back him

Ram Pukar Sinha is contesting the Saran teachers' seat in the Bihar Legislative Council as an independent against the JD(U)'s Anand Pushkar. Three of the party's four MLAs attended his nomination.

From the editorial desk · PatnaPublished
RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha (file photo)
RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha (file photo)Photo: Information and public relations department Govern / Wikimedia Commons, Attribution

Key points

  1. The Rashtriya Lok Morcha suspended state general secretary Ram Pukar Sinha for six years.
  2. Sinha is contesting the Saran teachers' constituency against the NDA's JD(U) nominee.
  3. Three of the RLM's four MLAs, including its state president, have stood by him.

The Rashtriya Lok Morcha, Upendra Kushwaha’s party and a member of the NDA in Bihar, on Monday suspended its state general secretary Ram Pukar Sinha for six years for contesting a Legislative Council seat against the alliance’s official candidate. The bigger problem for the party is that three of its four MLAs are on Sinha’s side.

Sinha has filed as an independent in the Saran teachers’ constituency, one of eight seats in the Bihar Legislative Council election due on 23 October. The NDA’s candidate is Anand Pushkar of the Janata Dal (United). Jan Suraj has fielded the sitting MLC, Aafaq Ahmad.

Announcing the suspension, the party’s working state president Prashant Pankaj said Sinha had broken party discipline by contesting as an independent against the NDA’s declared candidate. Kushwaha had already said the RLM would back Pushkar.

Three MLAs break ranks

Three RLM MLAs attended Sinha’s nomination: state president Alok Kumar Singh (Dinara), Madhav Anand (Madhubani), who leads the party in the Assembly, and Rameshwar Mahto (Bajpatti). The three also stayed away from an NDA meeting at the Chief Minister’s residence on 9 October.

Madhav Anand has defended the decision as a matter of “organisational self-respect”. He argued that Council elections are not fought on party symbols, and that when the state president, a national vice-president and the legislature party leader stand together, it should be read as a collective decision of the organisation, not a personal one.

The party has not announced any action against the three MLAs. With Sinha now formally out, the split between the party’s leadership and most of its legislators is in the open less than two weeks before polling.