JD-U leaves Steel Minister RCP Singh high and dry

New Delhi, May 30

A major political churning appears to be in process in Bihar. Though the suspense over the future of Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh appears to be over, with his party (JD-U) leaving him high and dry in the nominations to the Rajya Sabha elections.

He doesn’t need to resign: Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said RCP Singh did not need to resign as Union Minister ahead of the expiry of his tenure. Meanwhile, all eyes on June 1 all-party caste-census meeting.

In a major political development on Sunday, the JD-U decided not to send its lone Union Minister back to the Upper House and instead announced the name of its Jharkhand state president and former MLA Khiru Mahto, who too belongs to the Kurmi community like RCP Singh.

The BJP too named its two candidates for Bihar. It dropped sitting Rajya Sabha member Gopal Narayan Singh, retained Satish Chandra Dubey and fielded Shambhu Sharan Patel, a former JD-U leader, hailing from the backward caste.

The saffron party was also “silent” on RCP, who is said to enjoy the biggest hold over the JD-U after Nitish Kumar.

The JD-U supremo is believed to be upset over his “closeness” to the BJP and “attempts to break the party”.

Apparently, Singh was deputed to hold talks with the BJP and bargain for at least three-four ministerial berths for the JD-U in the Cabinet reshuffle in 2021. Instead, he landed one for himself, and that too “without consulting the leadership”, thereby laying the foundation of distrust between the two allies.

There was a buzz that RCP might be fielded by the BJP, which appears to have decided to play safe for now than rub Nitish Kumar the wrong way ahead of the Presidential polls. “Nitish was upset with RCP Singh’s closeness with the BJP. With this decision, he has delivered the message that he is still the boss in JD-U,” say observers.