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RJD dissolves party's Madhya Pradesh unit
PTI
Last Updated IST
FILE- In this Dec. 18, 2006 file photo, Indian politician Lalu Prasad Yadav gestures as he greets his supporters in Patna, India. Prasad and Jagannath Mishra, two former chief ministers of Indian state Bihar were convicted Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, of embezzling millions of dollars in the 1990s with bogus bills for cattle feed. The verdict in the 15-year-old 'fodder scam' case could make Prasad, now a member of Bihar's opposition and India's parliament, one of the country's first politicians to face political disqualification under a new Supreme Court order banning convicts from holding public office. AP file
FILE- In this Dec. 18, 2006 file photo, Indian politician Lalu Prasad Yadav gestures as he greets his supporters in Patna, India. Prasad and Jagannath Mishra, two former chief ministers of Indian state Bihar were convicted Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, of embezzling millions of dollars in the 1990s with bogus bills for cattle feed. The verdict in the 15-year-old 'fodder scam' case could make Prasad, now a member of Bihar's opposition and India's parliament, one of the country's first politicians to face political disqualification under a new Supreme Court order banning convicts from holding public office. AP file

A day after RJD chief Lalu Prasad was convicted in the fodder scam case, the party dissolved its Madhya Pradesh unit, which according to a senior leader, was about to merge with BJP.

The action comes apparently as the Bihar-based party is keen to give an impression that it will "have no business" with BJP.

"Madhya Pradesh state unit of RJD headed by Sanjay Silwat is dissolved with immediate effect. We have come to know that he was trying to tie up with BJP and merge the RJD unit in the state's ruling party.

"This is an anti-party activity given the founding principle of secularism of RJD. And hence, the entire state unit stands suspended with immediate effect," party's national general secretary Ramdeo Bhandari told PTI.

Silwat and all the office bearers, roughly over 24, as such stand suspended from RJD, sources in the party said.

Bhandari said his party was against BJP mainly on the issue of communalism and had been fighting it tooth and nail, as it believes in secular politics and hence such "anti-party activities" cannot be tolerated.

The RJD leader said a new state unit in Madhya Pradesh will be constituted soon after consultation with the party chief.

Prasad was yesterday taken to jail after being convicted by a special CBI court in the fodder scam case in Ranchi.

RJD's rival in Bihar, JD(U), had been alleging a "nexus" between BJP and RJD for some time after Nitish Kumar's party walked out of NDA, breaking its 17-year alliance with BJP in June this year.

RJD has been, however, vehemently denying the contention.

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(Published 01 October 2013, 19:08 IST)