Internal rumblings within the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) have started to come to the fore after senior leader and Union Steel minister RCP Singh did not figure on the list of Rajya Sabha candidates released by the ruling party as well as its alliance partner the Bharatiya Janata Party. Once a trusted aide of CM Nitish Kumar, the former IAS officer who made a quick ascent within party ranks, today finds a sword dangling over his ministerial post at the Centre as well. After keeping him on the tenterhooks for a third term in Rajya Sabha, the JD(U) finally decided to drop him in favour of little-known Kheru Mahto from the seat in Jharkhand.
With options closing in on him, a cornered and isolated Singh — with his retirement from Rajya Sabha approaching in June — has chosen to lob the ball in the court of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In his statement to the media after the JD(U) and BJP announced their list of candidates on Monday, Singh said, “This is the Prime Minister’s prerogative, I will go to him and seek orders. He can demand resignation from a minister anytime and we can resign anytime. Narendra Modi is everyone’s leader, and we will all talk to him. The party has not given me any such orders (to resign from Centre) yet.”
A UP-cadre IAS officer, Singh first came in contact with Nitish when he was posted as private secretary to then Union minister Beni Prasad Verma in 1996. Both Nitish and Singh hail from Nalanda district in Bihar and belong to the Kurmi community. Having served under Nitish Kumar in various capacities — special secretary when Nitish was Railway minister to his principal secretary when he became Bihar CM — Singh had come to be known as the CM’s voice who had gradually managed to grow his influence in the JD(U) as well.
However, things took a turn for the worse for Singh when he started to show more proximity to the BJP instead of the JD(U). Another factor that went against him was that while Nitish had decided against joining the Modi cabinet when the NDA formed government at the Centre in 2019 over his demand to accommodate two ministers instead of one offered by the BJP, Singh managed to push his name without the CM’s consent and found a place in the revamped Cabinet in 2021.
The move understandably did not go down well with Nitish, resulting in the fallout between the two leaders. The JD(U), on its part, has however dismissed talk of the party’s apparent displeasure with Singh over his appointment as a minister in the Modi cabinet. Speaking to the media, CM Nitish ruled out any move by his party to ask Singh to vacate his ministerial berth at the Centre till his term in the Rajya Sabha expires.
Despite the posturing, the JD(U)’s disenchantment with Nitish’s closest aide is evident. Yet, there is an underlying fear within the JD(U) that given Singh’s proximity to the BJP, he may engineer a revolt that could put the ruling party in a spot. An honourable exit for Singh, thus, appears to be an attempt by the JD(U) to stop him from doing just that.