Acting on a Janata Dal (United) petition, Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu disqualified rebel party leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar.

Rebel Janata Dal (United) leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar have been disqualified from Rajya Sabha, the party's leader in the upper house, RCP Singh said in a Facebook post. The two rebel JD(U) leaders were expelled from Rajya Sabha by chairman Venkaiah Naidu on the basis of a petition filed by the party.

The party in its petition had said Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar should be expelled from Rajya Sabha since they had been indulging in anti-party activities for a long time.

Sharad Yadav has been at loggerheads with party boss and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ever since the latter broke ranks with the JD(U)-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) 'mahagathbandhan' and partnered with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Patna in July.

Meanwhile, Sharad went public with his disapproval of Nitish Kumar's move form a government in Bihar with the help of the BJP. Sharad also attended an anti-BJP rally called by RJD supremo Lalu Yadav in August this year. This infuriated Nitish, who was so upset with Sharad speaking against the party that the JD(U) met Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaih Naidu and asked him to terminate the membership of Sharad and Ali Anwar for indulging in anti-party activities.

Recently Sharad Yadav, backed by other Opposition leaders claimed the JDU headed by Nitish Kumar was not the real JD(U) and he approached the Election Commission, staking claim to the party and its symbol. The EC, however, refused to recognise the Sharad faction as the real JD(U) and awarded party symbol to Nitish faction.