Senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav is set to present his faction as the "real" party claiming that many of its state units are with him while the support for party president Nitish Kumar is confined to Bihar.

The Yadav-led faction, which includes two Rajya Sabha MPs and some national office-bearers, has armed itself with letters of support from 14 state unit presidents, Arun Shrivastava, a close aide of Yadav said. Kumar recently removed Shrivastava+ from the post of party's general secretary.

The crisis in the ruling party in Bihar deepened further on Monday with its state president Bashistha Narayan Singh suspending 21 party men from primary membership for ‘anti-party’ activities.

The suspended party men include former minister Ramai Ram, former Sitamarhi MP Arjun Rai, former Vaishali MLA Raj Kishore Sinha and former MLC (Madhepura) Vijay Verma. The list also includes the names of two district presidents and five block level presidents. All the suspended party men belong to North Bihar districts.

During his visit to the national capital on Friday, Kumar had virtually shut the door on any reconciliation with Yadav, saying he is free to take any decision as the alliance with the BJP had the entire party's nod.

On Saturday, the JD(U) removed Yadav as its leader in the Rajya Sabha after he continued to oppose the party’s decision to ally with the BJP in Bihar. Yadav was replaced by RCP Singh, a trusted aide of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Earlier on Friday, the party had suspended its Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar Ansari from the parliamentary party for attending a meeting of opposition parties convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.