Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, August 7
War of words and letters between the former and present national presidents of JDU, RCP Singh and Lallan Singh respectively, has reached to personal levels with the former being charged with sabotaging the party for personal interests.
RCP Singh, former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, today disputed the claim of the Chief Minister that he worked for 18 hours daily and said, “Fact is Nitish works for three hours daily and enjoys the remaining day with three to four selected leaders.” He was referring to Vijay Kumar Chaudhury, Ashok Chaudhury and Sanjay Kumar Jha, all cabinet colleagues of Nitish Kumar.
The former Union Minister for Steel reacted to the charges of Lallan Singh and said, “Ye to padhte, likhte bhi nahi hain. I have known Nitish Kumar since 1998, much more than Lallan Singh.” He clarified he had joined the union cabinet with the approval of Nitish Kumar after his telephonic talks with the Home Minister. Lallan too was informed.
As the crisis in the party intensified further, Nitish Kumar skipped the NITI Aayog meeting held on Sunday under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Kumar, however, attended two government programmes on Handloom Day and Museum Day, in the morning and afternoon.
JDU president today announced there would be no representation of his party in the union cabinet and it would follow the 2019 resolution. RCP was JDU nominee in the union cabinet till last month. Nitish has summoned all JDU MPs here on Tuesday morning for an emergency meeting.
RCP dismissed the charge of wealth accumulation levelled by the state JDU President yesterday and claimed since he became an MP in 2010, no land had been purchased by him. “Our daughters received property from their grand-father. They are income tax payee since 2010,” he added.
Reacting to the charge of Lallan Singh that RCP Singh had sabotaged the interests of the party in 2020 assembly elections like Chirag Paswan, RCP alleged Lallan Singh had imported candidates from other opposition parties and they lost the elections.
Lallan Singh earlier in the day alleged, “RCP was in JDU only in body and his mind and heart were elsewhere”. RCP responded and said, “Nitish Kumar had become union minister when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister, he became CM with the support of BJP and they are alleging that my heart is with the BJP.”
Below the belt attacks continued even in late Sunday with the present national president of the party alleging his predecessor was engaged in conspiracy to dislodge the JDU led ministry. RCP countered by saying, “Lallan Singh had been projecting himself as CM”.
RCP told media persons that he was denied renomination to Rajya Sabha, forced to quit the union cabinet and thrown out of the government bungalow at Patna.
