Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLC Sunil Kumar Singh was expelled from the Bihar Legislative Council for mimicking Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the House in February, its chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh announced Friday.
The decision comes a day after the ethics committee report was tabled Thursday in the House. In its conclusion remark, the report, a copy of which has been reviewed by ThePrint, said Singh was “unfit” to be a member of the House.
The expulsion is related to an incident in the House on 12 February when RJD members led by Singh, entered the Well and began taunting chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish on the switchover of alliance partners from the RJD to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The JD(U) rejoined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
RJD lawmakers were allegedly derogatory towards Nitish, and Singh was said to have attempted to crudely imitate the Bihar CM, prompting a heated exchange between the two. Outraged JDU MLCs petitioned the then chairman of the house Devesh Thakur, demanding strict action against Singh.
Singh told ThePrint that his expulsion was a black day for democracy. “I was never allowed to put my views before the committee. I got a call before the house panel to appear when I was busy in the Lok Sabha polls as I was in charge of the Saran parliamentary seat,” he said, denying he had mimicked Nitish.
The NDA defended the expulsion. “Legislative Houses demand decorum from member. Sunil Kumar Singh has violated the code of conduct several times and has been unrepentant, ” said BJP minister Niraj Bablu.
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Who is Sunil Kumar Singh
Singh is a close confidante of former chief minister Lalu Prasad and his family, with the RJD chief’s wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav known to treat Singh like a brother. He was the chairman of BISCOMAUN, once the largest Cooperative body in Bihar till the government suspended elections of the body and installed an IAS officer as its administrator. “My expulsion has been scripted by the CM himself. I have remained loyal to Laluji despite attempts to make me to switch my loyalty,” he alleged.
The expulsion also raised questions among senior party leaders. “On Wednesday, we went to meet the CM, urging him to stop the expulsion. The chief minister expressed his ignorance and asked us to meet the chairman of the council,” senior leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui told ThePrint.
Siddiqui said that if Singh had acted indecently, he should have been barred for a season or censured. “Expelling him opens the gate for the ruling party to target their opposition in the future,” the RJD leader added.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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