Patna, Jan. 13: Having faced the umbrage of his own party leaders, JD (U) MP Upendra Kushwaha today announced that he would sit on a daylong hunger strike to press for his demand of an inquiry into his assets.

Kushwaha, who also holds the post of national general secretary of JD(U), would sit on the hunger strike at Gandhi Maidan on January 24.

JD (U) Bihar unit vice-president C.P. Sinha and spokesperson Niranjan Pappu had earlier claimed that Kushwaha’s assets had increased manifold in the last 10 years. The JD (U) leaders had also demanded an inquiry into his assets.

“One cannot sit silently when some people indulge in one’s character assassination. I want a probe into my assets as I am confident that this inquiry would force people, who are levelling baseless allegations against me, to shut their mouths,” Kushwaha told The Telegraph today.

He claimed he verified the documents he had submitted to the Election Commission while contesting elections on different occasions and found that there was no increase in his assets’ balance.

“The only thing which has changed is the valuation of my immovable property and one cannot make it a ground for levelling allegations against me,” he said.

Reiterating his demand for having a special law which could allow the state government to confiscate properties of politicians who have amassed property using unfair means, the JD (U) general secretary said: “If Bihar can have a law in respect of corrupt government officials, what is the problem in having a similar law for politicians?”

He, however, refrained from pointing a finger against leaders of his own party whom he considered as corrupt. “Though I am not levelling charges against anyone, still I am not giving a clean chit to leaders of even my own party,” Kushwaha said.