Patna:
Four legislators belonging to Nitish Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) were today disqualified by the Bihar Assembly Speaker for anti-party activities.
The Bihar Assembly Speaker ruled that the four rebel legislators, accused of cross-voting in the recently held Rajya Sabha elections, will not be given any benefits available to former MLAs.
The legislators, Ajit Kumar, Raju Singh, Suresh Chanchal and Poonam Devi, have said that they will move Patna High Court against the decision.
"No cross-examination was done. This is completely happening under the control of Nitish Kumar...he wants to become PM...What happened in Jharkhand with their party will happen in Bihar too," said an angry Poonam Devi.
"It is clear that this decision is not as per the rules and regulations. We will fight back," said Ajith Kumar.
The decision was taken by the Speaker, after a due process of hearing within the Assembly in what is technically called the 'Speakers Court'.
Earlier this year, the Assembly Speaker had terminated the membership of four other JD(U) legislators, also accused of anti-party activities.
With the disqualification of four more MLAs, the JD(U)'s strength in the state Legislative Assembly has come down to 111. The BJP has 88 members in the House followed by RJD (24), Congress (5), CPI(1) and Independents (5).
The disqualification of eight MLAs so far, however, does not pose any threat to its government in Bihar as the RJD, Congress, CPI and three Independents continue to extend outside support to the JD(U) government since last year.