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Two months after the Janata Dal (United) dropped its former MP K C Tyagi as the party’s national general secretary and national spokesperson, the party on Monday brought him back as its special advisor and chief spokesperson, saying it wants to benefit from his “organisational experience”.
In a letter, JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh, popularly known as Lalan Singh, said, “K C Tyagi (ex-MP) is an experienced leader associated with the socialist movement and has worked closely with Chaudhary Charan Singh (former PM) and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and hence we want his organisational experience. So he is appointed as special advisor and chief spokesperson of the party.”
Reacting to his return to the thick of things in the party, Tyagi told The Indian Express, “Though I had earlier no to accepting any position, I cannot shy away from my responsibility at a time when Nitish Kumar has potential to emerge as fulcrum of Opposition unity. I cannot forget that Nitish Kumar sent me to the Rajya Sabha and has also valued me as an important and integral part of the JD(U).”
The veteran socialist added, “The present ordinance row (in Delhi) has added further urgency to the Opposition’s efforts to unite. The BJP has been turning out to be a party of ordinances.”
Sources in the party said Tyagi was brought back because the party had no other senior leader at the national level to articulate the JD(U)’s position and talk about the party’s work, achievements, and Nitish Kumar’s vision.
“From Chaudhary Charan Singh to George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav, K C Tyagi has worked under several leaders. Now that the party’s senior leaders such as Upendra Kushwaha and R C P Singh have left the JD (U), there is a leadership vacuum. The JD (U) needs someone like Tyagi at a time when Nitish Kumar has been making serious efforts towards stitching together a national Opposition front,” said a senior JD (U) leader who did not wish to be named.
After he was not included in the party’s national leadership team in March, Tyagi said it was too early to write his “political obituary” and that seems to have borne out. He told The Indian Express at the time, “Let me explain that I am not retiring from politics. My engagements will remain the same and I would surely work for national Opposition unity. I consider Nitish Kumar among the top 10 socialist leaders and, at present, he is perhaps the only socialist leader who can offer resistance to Narendra Modi.”
Some party insiders said then that differences with a few senior JD(U) leaders on political messaging since the Maghagathbandan returned to power last August could have led to Tyagi being eased out. Tyagi was said to have requested Nitish to “relieve him of organisational responsibilities” after the party’s national executive meeting in December.
A national general secretary of the party since the merger of the JD(U) and the Samata Party in 2003, Tyagi has been among the party’s most prominent voices in Delhi and the national media. After Kushwaha quit the party the first time around in 2013, the veteran leader was given his seat in the Rajya Sabha. Tyagi served out the rest of Kushwaha’s term from February 2013 to July 2016.
