Crackdown in Bihar on rebels: Ex-Union minister Raj Kumar Singh quits BJP after getting show-cause from party

Former Union minister Raj Kumar Singh on Saturday resigned from BJP, taking exception to a show-cause notice that said he was being “suspended” for “anti-party” activities.

Singh shared on social media his letter to BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda in which he said he was giving up the primary membership of the party following the letter issued by state headquarters earlier in the day.

He also shared his letter to Arvind Sharma, the in-charge of state BJP headquarters, who had issued the show-cause and whom he informed that he has sent his resignation to the national president.

In both letters, Singh claimed his utterances aimed at “curbing corruption and criminalisation of politics seem to have made some people uncomfortable”.

Sharma had also shot off similar letters to MLC Ashok Kumar Agrawal and his wife Usha Agrawal, the mayor of Katihar, both of whom had canvassed for their son Saurabh, who was contesting the Katihar Assembly seat on a ticket of Vikassheel Insan Party, against sitting BJP MLA and former Deputy CM Tarkishor Prasad.

Singh, a bureaucrat-turned-politician, who joined BJP in 2014, months after retiring as the Union home secretary, has been critical of leaders, like Samrat Choudhary, a deputy chief minister of Bihar and a former state BJP president, for their alleged involvement in criminal cases.

Singh, who failed to retain his Ara Lok Sabha seat for a third consecutive term in last year’s general election, has also expressed dissent over the state government’s deal with Adani Group for setting up a power plant in Bhagalpur. PTI