Amid suspense over ticket, RCP flies out in a huff

RCP SINGH HAS BEEN FACING THE HEAT FROM PARTY LEADERS EVER SINCE HE JOINED THE UNION CABINET IN JULY 2021.

PATNA: Internal rumblings within the ruling Janata Dal (United) in Bihar became more pronounced Tuesday, the day the nomination process for the five Rajya Sabha seats from the state going to polls on June 10 began, with suspense hanging over ticket to union minister R C P Singh, who left for New Delhi in a huff after camping for days in Patna.

The JD (U), which had authorised chief minister Nitish Kumar to name the candidate for the lone seat falling in its bag, is still to take a decision on the candidature on union minister for steel Singh, whose term ends on July 5.

The last date for filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections is May 31.

Kumar, who had spent several hours at the party office in Patna on Sunday, had a cryptic reply when asked by reporters about the impending decision regarding the Rajya Sabha elections, “Don’t worry about that. The announcement will be made at the right time.”

Singh is considered very close to Kumar, but is facing strong opposition from senior party leaders.

He has been a Rajya Sabha member since 2010.

On Tuesday afternoon, the minister left Patna in a huff. “My relation with everybody is good,” he told reporters when asked about his candidature after landing in New Delhi.

What has added to the suspense is his Twitter account, which has a picture of Singh and a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the banner. It is not clear when the JD-U mention and photo of Nitish Kumar were removed from the account profile, which mentions Singh’s ministry and his IAS batch, besides him being an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“This is unusual. This was discussed in our party office as well,” said a BJP MLA, wishing not to be quoted.

RCP Singh has been facing the heat from party leaders ever since he joined the union cabinet in July 2021.

Singh, who was the party national president at that time, was authorized to talk about the cabinet berths for JD(U). It was widely expected that the party would get two berths. However, the party had to settle with just one berth.

However, JD(U) minister Leshi Singh dismissed talks of any rift in party. “Everything is fine between CM Nitish Kumar and RCP Singh,” she said.