Sabir Ali

Patna, Oct. 15: Yet another LJP leader, Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali, resigned from the party today, blaming the party chief of indulging in “nepotism” while appointing members.

Ali told The Telegraph he resigned because his party does not have any place for dedicated workers.

“Yes, I have resigned from the party. There is no place for dedicated workers in the LJP. Paswanji only favours his family members such as his brothers and in-laws,” Ali said after sending his resignation to the party chief, Ram Vilas Paswan, day before yesterday.

“The party does not have any hold at the grassroots level. Neither does the party have any vision nor any thought for future. The LJP has become like a private limited company where only family members are respected. The party has failed on all fronts,” he added.

“Paswan’s younger brother, Pashupati Kumar Paras, is LJP’s state president. The youngest brother, Ram Chandra Paswan, is the president of Dalit Sena founded by Paswan. Everything in the party is related to the family,” he said.

On the possibility of joining the JD(U), Ali said: “There is every possibility that I might join JD(U) very soon.”

With Ali’s resignation, the LJP is left with just one MP and one MLA — Paswan himself is a member of the Rajya Sabha and Zakir Hussain Khan is an MLA from Araria. The party does not have any representation in the state Legislative Council after all three party MLCs resigned on June 25, 2011 and joined the JD(U).

Meanwhile, Paswan slammed Ali for resigning from the party.

“He has vested interest and that is why he is resigning from the party. He has betrayed us. The party gave him a ticket for Rajya Sabha. We will never take him back,” Paswan told The Telegraph.

He added that the party will not be affected by his resignation.

JD(U) president Basistha Narayan Singh said: “There is no doubt that people are getting impressed by the work of present government and if he (Ali) believes in the work of our party, we will certainly consider his case.”