Lalu's confidante Ram Nihori Yadav quits RJD

In yet another blow to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, another close confidante and senior party leader Ram Nihori Yadav resigned from the party on Sunday.

"I have apprised the RJD leadership of my decision of resigning from the primary membership of the party. I don't want to remain associated with a party which has deviated from the principles of social justice. Lalu had once championed the cause after former CM late Karpoori Thakur," Ram Nihora Yadav, who was RJD's state general secretary and spokesman, told PTI.

Claiming that the RJD had been reduced to "a party of sycophants," Yadav said he was feeling suffocated

in the party under Lalu's leadership. On whether he would switch over to the ruling Janata Dal-United, Yadav said he is yet to take a decision.

Prasad's blue-eyed boy and RJD national general secretary Shyam Razak had resigned from the party and the Bihar assembly citing similar reasons, on Saturday.  Razak, however, is likely to join the ruling JD-U soon in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, sources said.

Lashing out at Prasad for RJD's humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, after it could won only four seats this year against last time's tally of 22, Razak predicted that the party would be "finished soon".