Patna, Oct 12 (PTI) Senior JD(U) leader Lalan Paswan on Thursday quit the party, voicing protest against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's alliance with arch-rival Lalu Prasad's RJD.

In a letter to JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh,, Paswan said he was resigning from the post of the state vice president, besides giving up primary membership of the party.

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He alleged that ever since the JD(U) aligned with RJD a year ago, "there has been a spurt in crimes against Dalits, but the government seems to have lost the will to check rising incidence of murders and sexual violence".

Although there was no official word from the party on Paswan's resignation, sources in the JD(U) claimed that he has been a party "hopper".

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The sources pointed out that Paswan had became an MLA, for the first time, in 2005 on a JD(U) ticket but quit the party four years later to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Sasaram, where he lost to Meira Kumar of the Congress.

After remaining in political wilderness for years, Paswan joined the now defunct RLSP of Upendra Kushwaha and became an MLA on its ticket in 2015, only to revolt a few years later and join the JD(U).

The JD(U) sources also said Paswan's unease with the party joining the Mahagathbandhan is in part because Congress' Murari Gautam, by whom he was defeated in 2020 assembly polls, has been inducted into the state cabinet.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)