New Delhi, July 22: After expelling two rebel MPs, Raghunath Jha and Brahmanand Mandal, Samata Party today said Arun Kumar and Renu Kumari had been appointed as the party's new chief whip and deputy chief whip respectively in Parliament. While Kumar replaced Jha as the chief whip, Renu Kumari was appointed in place of Mandal, who had levelled corruption charges against senior party leader and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, forcing him to resign from the government.

The appointments were made yesterday at a meeting of the Samata parliamentary party, party sources said. Other office bearers appointed were Prabhunath Singh as deputy leader and Beatrix D' souza as treasurer. Bureau Report