Five JD(U) MPs from Bihar formally quit the Lok Sabha, stealing the march over their political rivals RJD and LJP on the issue of attacks on north Indians in Maharashtra.
NEW DELHI: Five JD(U) MPs from Bihar on Tuesday formally quit the Lok Sabha, stealing the march over their political rivals RJD and LJP on the issue of attacks on north Indians in Maharashtra.
"The Speaker has accepted the resignation of all five JD(U) MPs," JD(U) parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha Prabhunath Singh said here after meeting Somnath Chatterjee.
He said Speaker Chatterjee initially requested them not to put in their papers. "Even jokingly he told us that the House will become lack lustre in our absence," Singh said.
On Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's remark that the JD(U) was doing a political stunt, he hit back at the RJD chief dubbing him "Nautanki Party Chairman (head of drama party)".
He said Prasad was only looking for excuses to avoid resigning from the Lok Sabha. But, he will be thoroughly exposed, he said.
Besides Singh, other party MPs present at the meeting with Chatterjee were Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lallan', Kailash Baitha and Meena Singh.
Another Lok Sabha member and senior party leader George Fernandes, who could not come because of illness, spoke to the Speaker over phone and apprised him of his decision to resign from the House, Singh said.
Lallan said the JD(U) was mounting pressure on the Centre "step by step" on the issue of attack on north Indians in Maharashtra and accused the RJD chief of doing drama.
The JD(U) MPs had last week submitted their resignation to Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary and sought an appointment with the Lok Sabha Speaker later as he was unwell then.
Prabhunath Singh said the JD(U) planned to launch a campaign in Bihar, starting from Motihari, a place associated with Mahatma Gandhi, to tell people how the Centre failed to protect the north Indians.
"We will later take the campaign to other Hindi-speaking parts of the country," he said.
Dismissing charges that the JD(U) was attempting one-upmanship and had breached the unity of Bihar leaders on the issue, he said the decision taken by the JD(U) MPs was that of its parliamentary party.
The JD(U) move has come at a time when Prasad, known detractor of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, was collecting resignations from his party MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as also MLAs and MLCs and had announced to take a decision by November 15.
However, JD(U) Chief Sharad Yadav, himself a Rajya Sabha member, has said there was no need for party members from the Upper House to resign.
"When Lok Sabha members resign, power goes out from Parliament," he said dubbing the demand for resignation of Rajya Sabha members and MLAs and MLCs "illogical."
With general elections just a few months away, the resignations have come at a time when politics is hotting up in Bihar on the issue of the attacks allegedly by the Raj Thackeray-led MNS.
The JD(U) MPs have criticised the Railway Minister and LJP leader and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan for failing to quit the Union Cabinet on the issue.
Asked about Bihar coalition partner BJP describing JD(U) resignations as its unilateral decision, Prabhunath Singh said there could be differences over certain issues, but the NDA allies were together.
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