JD-U expelled Shivanand Tiwari

The party also asked four other parliamentarians to leave

Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United Thursday expelled senior leader Shivanand Tiwari and four sitting parliamentarians for anti-party activities.

The JD-U said it has expelled four Lok Sabha members Jai Narain Nishad, Purnmasi Ram, Sushil Kumar Singh, Mangani Lal Mandal and Shivanand Tiwari, who is the party's former Rajya Sabha member.

Nishad is MP from Muzaffarpur parliamentary constituency, Purnmasi Ram from Gopalganj, Sushil Kumar Singh from Aurangabad, and Mangani Lal Mandal from Jhanjharpur.

Nishad has been repeatedly criticising Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and praising Bhartiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, which apparently irked the party.

Though Nishad, in his 80s, has already announced he would not contest polls, the leader who belongs to extremely backward caste is apparently keen that his son should contest the Lok Sabha polls on the BJP ticket.

Ram, who is likely to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal, has been praising RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

Singh is likely to join Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

Mandal, who questioned Nitish Kumar's functioning and his governance, is set to join the RJD to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

Tiwari has been targeting Nitish Kumar after the JD-U denied him re-nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls last month.

Nearly a couple of hours before the JD-U expelled its four parliamentarians, Nitish Kumar told reporters here: "It is a common feature ahead of elections as some will desert us and some will join us."