Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) slammed party member and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh on Monday for not abiding by its call to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

The party also signalled disciplinary action against him for attending the function.

“Our party sent you to the Upper House of the Parliament. Democracy was being tainted and the history and legacy of our ancestors were at stake. Your Chairman — the Vice-President of India (Jagdeep Dhankar) — was not invited to the inaugural function of the new Parliament building, but you attended it. You have sold your conscience for the position,” JDU chief spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar said while attacking Harivansh.

Addressing media persons in Patna, Neeraj lambasted Harivansh and asserted that the coming generations will remember him as a symbol of materialism.

“When the party and its leadership took the decision not to attend the inaugural function, why were you present there to witness the tarnishing of democracy? This is a worrying development. It is for the party and its leadership to determine the action on this, but one thing is sure you have committed a grave political sin,” Neeraj said while condemning Harivansh.

A journalist-turned-politician, Harivansh, 66, became a member of the JDU in 2014. The party sent him to the Rajya Sabha the same year. He was re-elected in 2020 on the party ticket.

Harivansh was made the deputy chairman of the Upper House in August 2018 and has held the post continuously since then, except for a brief interregnum of around five months in 2020.

Well known for his oratory skills and calm demeanour, Harivansh, as the Deputy Chairman, has been presiding over the Rajya Sabha sessions.

However, he has been distancing himself from the JDU since it broke away from the NDA in August 2022 and joined hands with the Grand Alliance to form a new government in Bihar.