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Journalism of Courage
WITH FORMER agriculture minister and RJD leader Sudhakar Singh continuing his attacks on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, allies JD(U) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) have now asked his party to take action against him.
In the latest instance, Singh, who resigned from the Nitish ministry in October, said in television appearances on year-end that the CM was now “nothing more than a night watchman” in state politics because he had already “announced Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav as successor”. But what angered the JD(U) more was Singh likening Nitish to Mahabharta character Shikhandi, a transgender. “When the BJP was trying to defeat Lalu Prasad, they fielded Nitish against him just as Shikhandi was brought in against Bhishma Pitamah.”
While Singh, the RJD MLA from Ramgarh, has now been attacking Nitish for long, what rankles the JD(U) is why RJD leaders Lalu and Tejashwi have failed to discipline him – particularly when Singh is the son of RJD state president Jagdanand Singh. The volley of insults continues even as Nitish has gone out of his way to be accommodating of Tejashwi, ignoring his own party’s reservations over this. However, behind the off-the-cuff remarks could lie the underlying strain in the RJD-JD(U) ties despite the above bonhomie.
After Singh’s latest remarks, only RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari snubbed him, calling what he said “below dignity” and urging Jagdanand to take action against Singh.
Slamming Singh, JD(U) parliamentary board chairperson Upendra Kushwaha said: “His statement is not good for the health of the Mahagathbandhan.” Former CM and HAM(S) supremo Jitan Ram Manjhi talked of Singh’s old association with the BJP, adding: “He seems to be speaking the language of the BJP.”
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi denied any link to Singh’s remarks, saying that these were rather “reflective of the pain and frustration of Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi. Nitish Kumar delaying the coronation of Tejashwi is causing discomfort in the RJD.”
Many in the RJD agree. An RJD leader said that the show of largesse by Nitish towards Tejashwi is a sham. “We were not kept in the loop fully over the recent mass transfers of IAS and IPS officers. The CM’s projection of Tejashwi as a future leader is nothing more than placebo. There is a trust deficit issue with Nitish. We are also unsure how the alliance would work in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, given that Nitish’s core constituency of OBC Koeri-Kurmis, apart from a section of EBCs and Dalits, doesn’t gel with us,” the RJD leader said, adding that the whole plan of passing of the baton to Tejashwi rests on Nitish’s national ambitions, which are on shaky ground.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Singh said his Shikhandi reference had been “blown out of proportion”. “It was used in the political context to explain how the BJP had used Nitish Kumar to pin down Lalu Prasad. I also stand by my night watchman reference for him. When he has announced our leader Tejashwi as his successor, Nitish’s role is nothing more than that of a night watchman.”
Singh had resigned as agriculture minister claiming disagreement with some proposed agriculture reforms by the Nitish government, with the CM turning down his proposal that the mandi system be restored and there be multiple agencies for grain procurement. Singh had also flagged “corruption” in the Agriculture Department.
Nitish had gone on to rebuke Singh publicly at a Cabinet meeting, which had not gone down well with the RJD.
