A decision on termination of the membership of four JD(U) dissident MLAs for anti-party activities was today deferred till July 5 with the Speaker of Bihar Assembly giving them additional time to submit their replies to the notice.
Gyanendra Singh Gyanu told reporters that he and three other JD(U) MLAs - Ravindra Rai, Neeraj Singh Babloo and Rahul Kumar - separately met Speaker Udai Narayan Choudhary and sought a time after end of the current Monsoon session to submit their replies to the show cause notice served to them.
But, the Speaker directed us to submit written replies on July 5, he said.
Gyanu, a friend-turned foe of former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and a MLA from Barh in Patna district, said they had sought time after completion of the session on July 31 as they would be busy in the session and needed time to prepare the replies after consulting legal experts.
Gyanu, who emerged as the leader of the dissidents camp, said he and other JD(U) Legislators fighting "wrongs" within the party were united and "divide and rule" formula would not work.
Rattled by activities of dissidents during the recent Rajya Sabha by-elections in Bihar, the ruling JD(U) had on Sunday decided to crack the whip on four out of 18 MLAs against whom a report was submitted to the party for disciplinary action and recommended to the Speaker to end their membership.
