Janata Dal (United) on Monday expelled its party leader and Lok Sabha candidate from Sheohar seat Shabir Ali for praising BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
JD(U) president Sharad Yadav confirmed the expulsion of Mr. Ali, who is the candidate from Sheohar Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, over phone from his constituency Madhepura and said that he had been expelled for life.
However, Mr. Yadav refused to give details of Mr. Ali’s expulsion beyond merely saying that he was a “ kharaab admi ” (bad person).
“I was against him from the beginning and knew he is not a good person. Now, that his true colours have come out, he has been shown the door,” the JD(U) president said.
He said JD(U) would replace Mr. Ali with another candidate in Sheohar parliamentary seat soon.
Shabir Ali, who was denied a Rajya Sabha renomination recently, praised Narendra Modi’s policy attracting the wrath of the party.
He was among the three Rajya Sabha members of JD(U), including Shivanand Tiwari and bureaucrat-politician N.K. Singh, who were denied renomination to the Rajya Sabha last month and were asked to contest the Lok Sabha elections instead.
While the two others had backed out from contesting polls, Mr. Ali had agreed and was allotted party ticket from Sheohar seat.
Mr. Ali had come to the JD(U) from Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP in the midst of his Rajya Sabha term expecting renomination.
Mr. Ali came down heavily on the party alleging that big leaders were surrounded with “sycophants” who would lead the party to ruins.
