On "Nitish Kumar As PM Candidate" Question, Snubbed Leader's Response

Chastened by the snub from his JD(U), which has denied him another term in the Rajya Sabha, Union minister RCP Singh on Monday said he will seek advice from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on whether he should continue in the cabinet.

Talking to reporters for the first time after being blindsided by the party he once headed, Mr Singh, however, swore by his loyalty towards Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the de facto leader of the JD(U), claiming that he had become a minister in the Union cabinet with “full approval” of the latter.

“For all that I have achieved in my political career so far, I thank Nitish babu. I will continue to work for the party organisation in whatever capacity he deems fit for me. As far as Union cabinet is concerned, since it is the Prime Minister's prerogative I will have to seek his advice. If he says I should resign, I will do so,” said the bureaucrat-turned-politician.

Mr Singh is serving his second consecutive tenure at the Rajya Sabha, which comes to an end in July. As per rules, he can continue as a Union minister, without being a member of either house of Parliament, for not more than six months.

The JD(U) had sprung a surprise on Sunday when it announced its Jharkhand unit chief and former MLA Kheeru Mahto as the candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar.

The former UP cadre IAS officer, who was the JD(U) national president till the time he got inducted into the Union cabinet, pooh-poohed suggestions that the Bihar chief minister was upset over his accepting a ministerial berth despite the latter being opposed to a “token representation” and insisting on a “respectable” share.

Notably, Mr Kumar had turned down the offer of “token representation” made by BJP to all allies soon after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which saw Modi returning to power with a brute majority.

Induction of RCP Singh in the cabinet last year was viewed in many quarters as a softening of stance by Kumar, in the wake of his diminished strength in the state assembly in 2020 polls.

However, many JD(U) leaders claimed on condition of anonymity that Kumar was still insistent on a greater share in the Union cabinet, in view of the fact that following the exit of the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal, the NDA was bereft of major allies and his party was the BJP's oldest and largest coalition partner.

The JD(U) leaders also contended that RCP, who belongs to the same Nalanda district and Kurmi caste as Mr Kumar, might have misled the BJP leadership into believing that the Bihar Chief Minister was now ready for a smaller share in power at the Centre.

Despite his professed admiration for Mr Kumar, RCP Singh did not seem impressed with speculations that his political mentor was a “prime ministerial candidate”.

“You tell me how is that possible. To become the PM, you need 273 MPs. Our party is confined to Bihar. People like H D Deve Gowda became PM but how long did they last? Our leader Nitish babu has already made history. He is the longest serving chief minister of the state,” said the Union minister, who is seen by many in the JD(U) as having grown too close to the BJP.

The former JD(U) president also rubbished speculations about his tug of war with his successor Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lalan.

“I had accompanied him (Lalan) when he was filing his nomination papers from Munger during the Lok Sabha polls. I have excellent relations with all colleagues in the party,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)