Rajiv Rajan aka Lalan Singh has been appointed as the President of the JD(U), replacing RCP Singh, the Union Minister of Steel. Lalan Singh, a loyalist of Nitish, has been appointed to the post of President to ensure that the CM of Bihar does not lose control over the party.
Given the rebellious tendency of RCP Singh, who was hobnobbing with BJP over the last few months, Nitish Kumar realized that removing the former from the post of President would be the best bet, and installed loyalist Lalan Singh to the post. “I express my gratitude towards Nitish Kumar, for the decision of appointing Lalan Singh as the new national president of the party. This will benefit the party, it’s a good sign for party’s future…Don’t link this to caste matter. He’s a senior parliamentarian,” said JD(U) leader Sanjay Singh.
However, the removal of RCP Singh would definitely lead to further factionalism and the party might break very soon. 63 years old RCP Singh, who is close to BJP, is no pushover, and he may soon break the party and go to BJP with a good number of MLAs and MPs.
Over the last few months, many JD(U) legislators have taken a different stance than Nitish Kumar over issues like the population control bill, and Kumar is sensing a rebellion in the party and a plan to throw him out.
Previously RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav has insinuated that newly crowned Cabinet Minister RCP Singh could soon oust Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his key aides from the party.
Stating the incident where JDU leader Pramod Chandravansi was ejected rather unceremoniously, Shakti Yadav said, “Pramod Chandravansi incident will soon be replicated with Nitish Kumar and his trusted leaders of JD-U.”
It is pertinent to note that Pramod Chandravansi, the JD(U) leader who is associated with Nitish Kumar since the foundation of the Samata Party, alleged that RCP Singh had misbehaved with him recently, “I was associated with Nitish Kumar for 27 years and R.C.P. Singh was the personal secretary of Nitish Kumar at that time. When he became Union Minister, I personally came here to congratulate him. However, he thought otherwise and threw me out from the lift of his official residence,”
Congress leader Rajesh Rathod also said that Nitish Kumar would not be able to stop factionalism in the party and with Lalan Singh as the President, JD(U) would break into two very soon.
RCP Singh has had different views on matters of national importance. Unlike JDU and its other leaders, RCP Singh openly batted for the introduction of CAA and NRC across the country.
As reported by TFI, RCP Singh stoutly defended CAA in Parliament, which was vehemently opposed by the then JD(U) national vice president Prashant Kishor who was ultimately expelled from the party.
Thus, his elevation to the cabinet as the Steel Minister is being seen as a move by BJP to cut Nitish to size. Since the announcement of the cabinet last Wednesday, Nitish Kumar has not congratulated RCP Singh publicly on social media or any other platform, suggesting that all is not well within the JD(U) camp.
RCP Singh is a very smart politician, and he may be able to defeat the person who managed to keep the CM chair with him for the last one and a half-decade despite his unpopularity. Given the fact that a faction of the JD(U) has ideological alignment with the BJP and wants to see Nitish Kumar out, the party would be very soon broke into two and the RCP Singh faction might merge with BJP.