Following a criminal defamation suit filed by Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Jha five years ago, RJD national vice president Shivanand Tiwary has been sentenced to one year in prison by a Patna court

Additionally, the court levied a fine of ₹10,000 on Tiwari, a former state minister, as confirmed by Jha's counsel, Madhukar Anand. An interim bail has been granted to Shivanand Tiwary, allowing a 30-day window for him to file an appeal against the verdict.

In 2018, while serving as the national general secretary of the JD(U) and holding significant portfolios in the Nitish Kumar government, Jha filed the petition against Tiwary. The legal action was prompted by Tiwary's remarks concerning Jha's alleged close ties with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U)'s paramount leader.

Kumar has realigned with the RJD, which he had dumped in 2017, and hinted that he was now willing to pass on the mantle to his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, whose father Lalu Prasad heads the party.

Tiwary, a seasoned socialist figure with an almost five-decade association with both Prasad and Kumar, has been a member of parties founded by these two leaders at various junctures.