By IANS,
Patna : Newly appointed vice-president of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) Monazir Hasan, who was dropped from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) state ministry earlier this week, resigned from the party post Thursday.
Hasan was reportedly angry and unhappy the way he was sacked by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and appointed to the post of party vice-president a day after being dropped from the government.
Hassan said he resigned over the plight and deplorable condition of the Muslims, who constitute 16.5 percent of the total 83 million population of the state.
“The Nitish Kumar government too failed to do anything for socio-economic development of the Muslims,” Hasan said.
His resignation is seen as a set-back to Kumar’s attempt to make inroads into the Muslim support base of his political rival and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad.
“Monazir Hasan was a Muslim face of Nitish Kumar government. If he resigned citing plight of Muslims, it will send a message,” said a senior JD-U leader.
Hasan was one of the 10 ministers dropped April 13 by Kumar, who also inducted 19 new faces to improve the performance of his government.
“Hasan is first of the dropped ministers of the JD-U quota to revolt against Kumar,” another JD-U leader said.
Eight of the 10 dropped ministers were from the JD-U and two from its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“There is a strong resentment among all the dropped ministers,” party sources said.