Patna: The promotion of Akhilesh Prasad Singh as the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president has paved the way for Bihar BJP to launch an attack against the newly appointed president. BJP, the main opposition party in the state made a veiled attack on Singh, calling him a 'Yes Man' of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad.
“Akhilesh Singh is the 'Yes Man' of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. His fate would be decided by the number of seats he would manage to bargain from RJD in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls, followed by the Assembly elections in 2025. It would be interesting to see how he would strengthen the Congress in Bihar,” said BJP spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh.
Another BJP spokesperson Dr Nikhil Anand made a sarcastic remark about Akhilesh calling him a "borrow player". While speaking to ETV Bharat Anand said, “Since 1990, Congress kept searching for its existence in Bihar by playing in the lap of RJD, and now after 32 years it has completed a whole cycle, as the man whom RJD nurtured into a politician becomes Bihar Congress president 2022. Congratulations to Congress for having a borrowed player as president.”
Also read: Congress puts up brave face as exit polls paint grim picture for party
On Monday, Congress's high command issued the letter and appointed Singh as the new BPCC president. The party has hailed the contribution of the outgoing president Madan Mohan Jha, who tendered his resignation long ago, which has left the post vacant in Bihar. Singh, presently a member of the Rajya Sabha, was elected unopposed in 2018. He also remained a member of the Bihar Assembly from the Arwal seat between 2000 and 2004 and served as a Cabinet minister as well. In 2004, he was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha on the RJD ticket from the Motihari parliamentary seat and remained the Union Minister in the government of Dr Manmohan Singh.
However, he lost two consecutive Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket from the Purvi Chamaparan and Muzaffarpur seats in 2014 and 2019 respectively. He also lost the 2015 Assembly elections from Tarari seat to Sudama Prasad of CPI (ML). Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee member and spokesperson of the party Kuntal Krishna retaliated to BJP's attack and said, “Dr Akhilesh Prasad Singh is a stalwart leader in Bihar politics and BJP is getting uncomfortable because now Congress has offered right representation to upper caste in Bihar against BJP's puppet representation, ”Krishna told ETV Bharat.
He further said, “BJP has always fooled Bihar and especially upper caste in Bihar with tokenism, but Congress has always given due respect to all the classes of Bihar and promotion of Dr Akhilesh Singh as Bihar Congress chief reiterates Congress commitment for upper castes.” Since Independence till 90's majority of the time, Congress ruled the state using upper-caste faces. However, at a few intervals between 1967 and 1972 and later also Congress made several changes and tried Dalit and Muslim faces as well. But once again, Congress has played its old card by appointing Singh as the BPCC president.
Asked about the reason for making Akhilesh the BPCC president, Patna-based political expert Dr Sanjay Kumar told ETV Bharat, “Caste equation has always been an important and driving force in Bihar politics. The upper castes comprising Brahmin, Rajput and Bhumihar had a dominant role in the state. Despite being fewer in numbers, they hold substantial influence in Bihar politics and its voters." "Currently, the majority of upper caste votes go to BJP, so keeping all these factors in mind Congress has taken this decision", Kumar explained.
