Nitish to nominate his principal secretary to RS

Ramchandra Prasad Singh,Principal Secretary to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,is finally set to enter politics.

Ramchandra Prasad Singh,Principal Secretary to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,is finally set to enter politics. Known to be the “most powerful” bureaucrat in the state,Singh or RCP,as he is commonly called,will file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat next week,confirmed CM House sources.

RCP,a 1984 batch UP cadre IAS officer,is a fellow casteman of the CM and resident of Asthawa in Nalanda. He left for Lucknow on Monday to put in his papers. He was due to retire in 2018.

He was also a strong claimant to the JD-U seat from Nalanda in the last Lok Sabha elections.

JD-U spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari told The Indian Express,RCP had been very much in contention for the RS seat and his candidature should not come as a great surprise. The party has so far not announced his candidature,which is also subject to the acceptance of his resignation.

A chief minister asking his principal secretary to take voluntary retirement to join his party is rare. Yashwant Sinha,former finance minister and senior BJP leader,who worked as principal secretary to then Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur during 1977-79,had quit to take to politics.

The move could largely be seen as Nitishs master stroke to scuttle squabblings in the party with about half a dozen candidates aspiring to reach the Upper House.

A JD-U leader said: RCPs candidature has once again showed Nitishs preference for bureaucrats over committed partymen. But it could be one way to keep voices of dissent in check.

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RCP came to be associated with Bihar CM during his tenure as Union railway minister. When Nitish took over in November 2005,RCP became principal secretary to CM.

Some of the bureaucrats preferred by the CM ahead of politicians include former Planning Commission member and now Rajya Sabha MP N K Singh,former Bihar chief secretary and now chief information commissioner Ashok Choudhary and former Bihar DGP RR Prasad,who is now member of state human rights commission.

The second JD-U seat might go to UP leader K C Tyagi,who is being seen a candidate of JD-U national president Sharad Yadav. This would mean shutting the door on Upendra Kushwaha,who is said to have upset Nitish for spewing venom against upper castes at recent meets.

Meanwhile,Bihar Congress is learnt to have decided against voting for either RJD,LJP or any other combination in case there is a sixth candidate in the fray against five vacancies. The RJD-LJP has almost decided on the candidature of LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and RJD leader Ramkripal Yadav,who chose not to contest from Pataliputra in the last Lok Sabha polls in favour of his party boss.