A BJP leader in Bihar on Thursday died while taking part in a ‘Vidhan Sabha march’ against the state’s Nitish Kumar government, evoking allegations from senior party leaders that he was ‘killed in a brutal lathi charge’.

The party’s Jehanabad district general secretary Vijay Singh was brought unconscious to the Patna Medical College and Hospital where he died, PMCH Superintendent Dr I S Thakur said. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a former state BJP president, told reporters that the death of Vijay Singh during the protest march was a “sacrificial offering”.