Patna: In a big setback to the Opposition, Jagada Nand Singh, veteran RJD leader and close aide of Lalu Prasad, on Friday tendered his resignation from the post of state unit president. Sources in the party revealed that Singh has given deteriorating health as the cause for his resignation. However, his resignation has not been accepted yet by the party supremo who is currently in Delhi.
Jagada Nand Singh is one of the founding members of the party and his resignation is seen as a big blow to the RJD who just celebrated the silver jubilee of the party in which Lalu had addressed party workers virtually. On July 5, Lalu had called him 'Jagada Bhai' on the occasion of the foundation day of the party.
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On November 27, 2019, Singh replaced Ram Chandra Purbey and assumed the charge in the presence of all the senior leaders of the party. He has not even completed the full term of three years and the midway resignation is raising several questions on the functioning of the party. Singh is a strong Rajput leader and is having a great influence on the voters of his community in the central region of Bihar. He was the first leader from the upper caste to hold the post of RJD state unit president.
On being asked about his resignation, the former water resources minister kept mum on the issue. Journalists kept on asking him questions about his resignation but he repeatedly denied answering them. On the other hand, RJD spokesperson Shakti Yadav refuted the information related to Singh's resignation by terming it as 'fake news' circulated by the ruling party.
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“The news related to Jagada babu's resignation is false and this has been planted by the leaders of the ruling party. We strongly condemn such news,” Shakti said in the statement. Party insiders also hinted that Singh was not on good terms with Lalu's eldest son Tej Pratap Yadav.
On a few occasions, Tej Pratap had openly slammed the state president alleging that Singh does not give any value to him and nor to the RJD workers and MLAs. Tej Pratap went on to say that Singh was responsible for the ill health of his father. Even on RJD's foundation day celebration, Tej Pratap had taken a jibe at Singh saying that uncle was angry with him.
Reacting to this episode, BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said that RJD is the party of a family in which only their members call the shots. He also alleged that the Lalu family is in the habit of humiliating the senior leaders of the RJD.
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