Bihar BJP vice prez Rajib Ranjan sacked, leader claims he has quit

Patna: The BJP in Bihar on Friday said it has sacked one of its vice presidents, Rajib Ranjan, for indiscipline, in a sign of the disarray into which the party may have fallen after being robbed of power in the state.

The party shared a letter to the effect issued by state unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal, dated December 29, shortly after Ranjan claimed that he has "resigned" from the primary membership.

In his letter, Jaiswal admonished Ranjan for "continuing with giving statements that went contrary to the party line, ignoring warnings given orally".

"Your utterances have been unbecoming of a state vice president and also adversely affect the party's reputation. You are hereby relieved of your post and suspended from the party for six years", said Jaiswal.

Interestingly, the party chose not to go public with the letter until Friday afternoon when Ranjan issued a statement alleging that the party had become "infested with elements hostile towards Dalits and OBCs".

"The party has deviated from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for 'sabka saath sabka Vikas'. In Bihar, the agenda has become Patna-centric. Important districts like my native Nalanda do not figure on the priority list", Ranjan had alleged.

An outspoken leader, Ranjan had been with the JD(U) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and had represented the Islampur assembly segment for two consecutive terms until joining the BJP in 2015.

Recently, he had embarrassed his party by issuing a statement "in a personal capacity" disapproving of the BJP vehemently demanding compensation to victims of the hooch tragedy in Saran district.

This had triggered speculations that he might be thinking of a patch-up with the chief minister who had pulled the rug from under the BJP's feet nearly six months ago by quitting NDA and joining the Mahagathbandhan.

The development comes as a major embarrassment for the state BJP ahead of national president JP Nadda's first Bihar tour, since loss of power, on January 3.