‘Rebel’ JD(U) MPs Sharad Yadav, Ali Anwar disqualified from Rajya Sabha

PATNA: Rajya Sabha (RS) chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu issued order for disqualification of “rebel” Janata Dal (United) members Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar from the Upper House on December 4 evening.
The order was issued on a petition filed by JD (U) MP RCP Singh on September 2, seeking disqualification of Sharad and Anwar on ground of defection. It has been uploaded on the Rajya Sabha website.
The RS chairman has stated in his order that Sharad as well as Anwar have voluntarily given up their membership of JD(U) by which they were set up as candidates for election to the Rajya Sabha from the State of Bihar in 2016 and elected as such Members. The development comes after the Election Commission recognized the Nitish-led JD(U) faction as the real party and entitled it to use the reserved ‘arrow’ poll symbol.
Naidu has concluded in his order that Sharad and Anwar have incurred disqualification for being a Member of the House in terms of ‘paragraph 2 (1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India. They have thus ceased to be members of the Rajya Sabha with immediate effect.’
JD(U) chief spokesperson K.C. Tyagi had cited the example of Tamil Nadu assembly speaker disqualifying18 AIADMK MLAs from the House and wanted a similar action to be taken against Yadav and Anwar.
Sharad fell out with Nitish after the Bihar Chief Minister walked out of the grand alliance with Congress and RJD and formed government with the BJP and other NDA partners in July this year.
Nitish, who is also the JD(U) national president, had stripped Sharad of the parliamentary party leadership post and replaced him with JD(U) national general secretary and Rajya Sabha member RCP Singh.
Spokesman of JD(U) Neeraj Kumar welcomed the decision of Rajya Sabha secretariat and called it victory of the Indian Constitution. “The decision will set an example for people like Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar to not take steps against majority decisions in the party,” he said.
Attacking Sharad for his growing proximity with RJD boss Lalu Prasad after the rift with Nitish in the last five months, Neeraj said, “Sharad ji was a very respectable leader but the way he has acted in last few months, he has been left with no other option but to spend the rest of his political life at the mercy of the Lalu family.”

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