Patna: For the first time JDU national president RCP Singh who has been the centre of attraction for the past many days in Bihar will face off Upendra Kushwaha, the chairman of the JDU parliamentary board committee.
Though the face off will take place virtually, it has a deep political meaning as reports suggest that all is not well between the two leaders who have been at the helm in Bihar politics for quite some time.
The occasion would be the office-bearer's meeting convened by JDU state unit president Umesh Kushwaha on July 18 at the party office.
“National President of the party RCP Singh ji will virtually address the office-bearers from Delhi JDU office in which several senior leaders of the party would be present including Upendra Kushwaha ji. I have also requested chief minister Nitish Kumar ji to grace the occasion,” Umesh told ETV Bharat over phone.
Ever Since the expansion of PM Narendra Modi cabinet has taken place, JDU has been receiving criticism from all over for accepting the old offer. The issue became more volatile when RCP, the lone JDU MP was inducted into the cabinet dropping all the possible names from the party.
Munger MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh who was the frontrunner for the cabinet post was reportedly angry with this development. Due to this, he had not interacted with the media for the next two days of the oath-taking ceremony and on the third day, Lalan had visited the residence of Upendra Kushwaha.
JDU insiders had hinted that Lalan had visited Kushwaha's residence to lodge his complaint; however, Lalan later issued the statement in the media that he has no issue with RCP, the lone leader inducted in the cabinet.
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The tug of war between former bureaucrat RCP and Upendra Kushwaha has been going on for a long time. For the first time it came to the fore when Kushwaha was officially merging his party in JDU in the presence of chief minister Nitish Kumar, the party president RCP maintained distance and was sitting in New Delhi.
When asked about the reports of RCP's name missing from the list of people who would be attending the meeting, Umesh further said, “No, there is nothing as such. RCP Singh ji will address the new office-bearers of the party. Upendra Kushwaha has also agreed to attend the meeting in the party office. So far, both have agreed. However, what will happen tomorrow I don't know.”
There has been talk in JDU that after RCP becoming a minister in the centre, there would soon be a change of guard in the party and RCP would be relieved from the job of JDU president because it won't be possible for him to focus on work related to the organisation.
Differences between RCP and Upendra Kushwaha became more concrete when the name of RCP was found missing in the fresh letter issued by JDU related to the meeting.
On July 10 2021 JDU issued the letter in which it was mentioned that RCP will address the meeting, however, JDU again issued the fresh letter on July 15 in which RCP's name was missing.
Patna based political expert Dr Sanjay Kumar said that even though a face off will take place, there won't be much dialogue between both of them.
“There is no doubt that JDU has divided into two groups, one is led by RCP and the other is led by Upendra Kushwaha. Nitish Kumar is also watching it silently. RCP is not ready to bow down much because he is already a cabinet minister and being the JDU president, he assumes that all the decisions would be taken by him only. Nobody can deny that both leaders are maintaining distance and as far as I know that there has been no communication between RCP and Upendra Kushwaha till now. In fact, the relation between Umesh Kushwaha and Upendra Kushwaha is not cordial. You can see that only ten percent of RLSP leaders accommodated in the reshuffle made in the JDU recently,” Dr Sanjay said.
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He further said, “I don't think that RCP will address the meeting because he is feeling humiliated that his name was first mentioned but later it was dropped. So these things are there in his mind. In case if all the leaders are present including RCP and Kuswaha there won't be much dialogue between these two leaders. Nitish is also not very happy with RCP though he issued a face-saving statement in haste about congratulating RCP. In fact, RCP is not bothered much after becoming central minister because he even knows very well that sooner or later, he would be relieved from the national president post.”
It would be interesting to see how things turn out on Sunday when the meeting takes place in the JDU office.
