Jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has egg on his face, while being locked up in a prison cell! In preparation of the upcoming Bihar polls in the state, the RJD has been bustling with action, with the hope of making a dent into the JDU and BJP’s fortunes. Panic-stricken as they are, the RJD had a rather embarrassing moment when a current JDU leader was declared as one of the national secretaries of Lalu’s corrupt party.
Prof. Kumkum Rai had quit the RJD in August last year to join Nitish Kumar’s JD(U). Surprisingly, the RJD is hell bent to not let go of Rai, even after 8 months of him quitting the party, to the extent that Kumkum Rai’s name featured in the newly-constituted ‘national executive’ of Lalu’s party. Here it must also be mentioned that Lalu Prasad himself cleared the list containing the name of Kumkum Rai, which was made public on Thursday.
“Most names in the current national executive have been retained from the previous one formed in 2018. In the process of copying the names, the mistake might have taken place,” RJD’s Principal National Secretary, Qamar Alam told journalists when asked about the slip-up. Earlier, upon realizing their folly, the RJD hurriedly removed Rai’s name from the list and replaced it with that of Yaduvansh Kumar.
Meanwhile, JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar was obviously hurt by the developments, and called it an ‘organisational fraud’ by the RJD. He also added, “Lalu Prasad’s stint in power was marked by rampant kidnappings for ransom. Tejashwi Yadav is touring the state on a bus purchased through an irregular transaction. Now they seem to have taken things to another level by claiming as their own Rai, who is a former MP and a professor at Patna University, and had joined JD(U) in August 2019.”
If it really was a mistake on the part of the RJD, then the party, rest assured, is simply not capable of winning any election. The oversights must have occurred at multiple levels, from the decision making about who is to be on the list, to the printing, and finally to the approval of Lalu Prasad Yadav from his prison cell. Unless there was absence of light or electricity in his cell, there is no explanation as to how Lalu Prasad approved the name of a leader who had quit his party last year. Unless, of course, Lalu is not in the best of mental health in prison.
In the hurry of it all, the RJD, however, seem to have made an even bigger mistake, by replacing Kumkum Rai with Yaduvansh Kumar. MLA from Supaul, Kumar has been throwing several tantrums on his part, much to the dismay of his party’s leadership. He had thrown a fist last year when Jan Adhikar Party founder Pappu Yadav entered the fray from Madhepura, where Sharad Yadav was contesting on an RJD ticket. Yaduvansh Kumar had retaliated by fielding a rebel candidate against Supaul MP Ranjita Ranjan who happens to be Pappu Yadav’s wife. This infuriated the Congress, and left the RJD in an awkward and embarrassing position. Eversince, the RJD seems to have found a liking for embarrassments, because they just don’t seem to let go of any.
The same Yaduvansh Kumar had also made an appearance alongside CPI activist Kanhaiya Kumar. This further angered Tejashwi Yadav, who is known to be very panicked by the presence of Kanhaiya in the state’s politics.
The major lapse on the part of the RJD on Thursday is reason enough to believe that they are simply incapable of making a significant impact against the JD(U)-BJP combine in the state.
