Shakuni Chaudhary and five RJD leaders join JD(U)

PATNA: Six senior RJD leaders, including former minister Shakuni Chaudhary, quit the party and joined JD(U) here today.

Chaudhary, accompanied by five other RJD deserters --- Vijendra Chaudhary, Suresh Mehta, Amit Rana, Abu Kaiser and Ganesh Paswan --- drove to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's official residence where he admitted them into his party.

The leaders later went to the JD(U) office located opposite of the RJD office where they were greeted by the state-unit president Bashishta Narayan Singh.

Speaking on the occasion, Chaudhary, a former Deputy Speaker and minister in the RJD-government, lashed out at Lalu Prasad for "running his party in a dictatorial manner with a sole agenda to promote interests of his family members."

Chaudhary's exit from RJD was anticipated after his son Samrat Chaudhary had orchestrated a split in the party last month by leading 13-rebel MLAs to seek recognition as a separate group by Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary.

The other leaders who quit RJD were reportedly unhappy with Prasad over distribution of tickets for the general elections.

The desertion by the six leaders, three of whom were former legislators, came on a day when the party's national general secretary Ram Kripal Yadav joined BJP in Delhi.