Setback to JD-U as Bihar bahubali leader Anant Singh quits party

Anant Singh, the controversial legislator of the ruling Janata Dal-United who is currently lodged in jail over abduction and murder charges, resigned from the party ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls.

In a brief letter to the party's Bihar president Vashishtha Nayaran Singh, Anant said that he was voluntarily quitting from the party and requested him to accept it with immediate effect.

On Wednesday, the party accepted his resignation.

The Mokama MLA, who had earned the reputation of a bahubali (strong man) because of his alleged muscle power over the years, had been in the JD-U for more than a decade. He was considered close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar before he was taken into custody following the abduction and murder of a youth in Barh sub-division near Patna district in June this year.

Though Anant has not cited any reason for his resignation, he was apparently unhappy with the way he was arrested in that case in which he was accused of being the mastermind. The Patna police had also booked him for other criminal cases which had further infuriated him.

He had earlier alleged that he was being framed in false cases at the behest of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad who has formed an alliance with Nitish.

After the arrest of Anant, Lalu had claimed to have asked Nitish to take action after the killing of the youth whose family had approached him. Even during the grand alliance's recent Swabhiman rally, Lalu had lauded Nitish for the arrest of Anant citing it as an example for those who take the law in their own hands.

Anant had shot into the limelight in 2004 when he had allegedly brandished an assault rifle during a public ceremony in Barh. He is facing more than a dozen criminal cases, including the murder of a contractor.

He was also arrested on the charge of assaulting a television journalist who had gone to interview him about a murder case in which his name had come up in 2007.