Bokaro, Nov. 15: Denied a JD(U) ticket, former senior vice-president Ashok Chowdhry today lashed out at top party leaders.

Calling Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and party national president Sharad Yadav “hypocrites”, Chowdhry, who has decided to contest the polls as an Independent, said “words like sushashan (good governance) and anushashan (discipline) was nothing but hollow promises to misguide innocent electorates.”

The party that gave 12 out of 14 tickets to “dal badloos” (frequent party changers) should never talk about ethics in politics, Chowdhry said, reacting to the naming of official JD(U) nominee Shailendra Mahto.

“Nitish Kumar rang me up several times asking me to reconsider my decision but what was my mistake. I left my government job to stay with the party through thick and thin and look at them now,” he bellowed.

“Till 15 days ago, I was entrusted with the responsibility of the party workers’ training camp in Bokaro and the state party in-charge had promised me a ticket. At the last minute, my ticket was rejected,” Chowdhry said.

“Shailendra Mahto took Rs 3 crore along with Shibu Soren and Suraj Mahto in the MP bribery case. He changed party several times, from JMM, Ajsu and BJP to smaller parties. Where is the JD(U) party discipline and ethics of the leaders now?” he asked.

Shailendra, however, refused to comment. “All these queries will be answered by Nitish Kumar when he arrives in Bokaro,” he said.