The Janata Dal United (JDU) sacked its Manipur state unit president Ksh. Biren Singh on Wednesday for withdrawing support from the BJP-led N. Biren Singh government in the state, allegedly without direction from senior party leaders.
The swift action against Ksh. Biren quelled speculation about things going wrong in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the JDU planning to exit it ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections.
“Our Manipur unit president wrote to the governor there, without any advice or suggestion from the party, that we were withdrawing support from the N. Biren Singh government. The party took serious note of the development and initiated action against him. He has been removed from his position,” JDU secretary general and MLC Afaque Ahmad Khan told The Telegraph.
Khan added that the letter by Ksh. Biren was against the counsel of the lone JDU MLA Md. Abdul Nasir.
“The JDU is very much with the Manipur government. Our MLA there supports it,” Khan added over telephone from Delhi.
Manipur has been in the grip of ethnic violence between the Meiteis and the Kukis since May 2023. Hundreds of people have been killed and a large number of people have been displaced in it so far.
The continuing violence has attracted sharp criticism of the BJP-led government in Manipur and at the Centre over their failure to check it and bring the state back to normalcy.
Nasir, who represents the Lilong Assembly constituency in Manipur, told this newspaper that he supported the state government as the JDU was a part of the NDA.
Earlier in the day, Ksh. Biren, in his letter to Manipur governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, pointed out that six JDU MLAs were elected in the Assembly elections held in 2022, of whom five defected to the BJP after a few months. Their trial under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution was still pending before the Assembly Speaker.
“After the JDU became a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), support to the BJP-led government was withdrawn… As such, the seating arrangement of the lone MLA of the JDU in Manipur, Md. Abdul Nasir, was made in the Opposition bench in the last session of the Assembly by the Speaker,” Ksh Biren said in the missive.
“It is hereby further reiterated that the JDU Manipur unit does not support the BJP-led state government in Manipur, and our lone MLA shall be treated as an Opposition MLA in the House,” Ksh. Biren added.
The letter led to jitters in the Modi-led NDA government at the Centre as it hangs there with a slim majority secured by the help of the JDU and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
While the Opposition parties waited with bated breath about the next move of the JDU, the action against Ksh Biren poured water on their enthusiasm.
