india

Updated: Jun 14, 2019 20:11 IST

Ajay Alok, a spokesperson of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal United, resigned as the party’s voice on Friday, noting that his views did not appear to be matching that of his party. Ajay Alok, who announced his resignation on Twitter, thanked the party and Bihar chief minister for having supported him.

“I don’t want to be a source of embarrassment for Nitish Kumar,” he explained.

In his four-line resignation letter, Ajay Alok told the party that he didn’t think he was doing a good job and asked to be relieved of the responsibility.

The 44-year-old politician who had a reputation for speaking his mind had recently raised eyebrows for his tweets and statements which weren’t in line with his party. Like when he appeared to remind BJP president Amit Shah on Twitter to plug the gaps along India’s border with Bangladesh.

“It isn’t just enough to fault Mamata Banerjee. We need to tighten the system, especially when Amit Shah is our Home Minister. It is absolutely important to stop illegal immigration. If this doesn’t happen now, when will,” he tweeted recently, responding to news about the government sacking corrupt tax officials.

Ajay Alok wanted the Centre to go a step further and probe assets of Border Security Force officers who have spent 10-15 years at the Bangladesh border.

This is the second time that Ajay Alok has had to step down as the party spokesperson. Alok had stepped down from the post back when Nitish Kumar’s party was still part of the Grand Alliance comprising Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress. He had then gone on to predict that the JDU would ultimately join hands with the BJP. “This is inevitable,” he had said to a question.

But his two innings as one of the party spokespersons isn’t the only unusual part about this politician. His entry into politics was no less, prompted by an extortion call that he and his father, a renowned physician Gopal Prasad Sinha, had received in March 2003. They went to gangster-turned-politician Suraj Bhan Singh for help, who suggested that he should enter politics to do the right things. Over the next few years, he contested elections as an Independent, as well as a candidate from Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party and Mayawati’s BSP before joining the JDU in 2012.