Lalan rules out RCP Singh's return to JD(U), takes swipe at Prashant Kishor

Patna, Jan 18 (PTI) Former JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan' on Sunday dismissed speculations about the return of his arch-rival RCP Singh to the party.

Lalan, a Union minister, also took a swipe at Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, a former JD(U) vice-president, who had predicted a rout of the Nitish Kumar-headed party in the Bihar Assembly polls.

Asked about Singh, who recently hinted at a possible return to the JD(U) claiming that he knew Chief Minister Nitish Kumar "better than anybody else", Lalan said, "People who brought the party from over 70 seats to just above 40 have no place left. The people have again reposed their faith in us." The remark was a reference to the sharp fall in the JD(U)’s tally in the 2020 Assembly elections compared with the 2015 polls. Singh was then the party’s national general secretary (organisation) and was later elevated as national president.

He was asked to relinquish the top party post after accepting a Cabinet berth in the Union government without Kumar’s approval, as the chief minister wanted Lalan, a close associate of several decades, to also be accommodated in the council of ministers.

Subsequently, Singh was also forced to give up his ministerial post after the party, which was then headed by Lalan, denied him another term in the Rajya Sabha.

This was followed by his exit from the JD(U) amid allegations by party cadres that he was attempting to split the party at the BJP’s behest.

The JD(U), which is now headed by Nitish Kumar as its national president, had performed beyond expectations in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and last year's Assembly elections.

To a query whether Prashant Kishor, who served as the party’s national vice-president before his expulsion in 2020, could be accommodated if he expressed a desire to return to the JD(U), Lalan remarked, "Who is he? Is he not the one who had pledged to retire from politics if the JD(U) won more than 25 seats? The party has bagged a much bigger tally. So why is he still continuing in politics ?" He also took a dig at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who recently held a meeting to review his party’s performance in the elections.

"They may do whatever they want, but they have been decimated. They have won only 25 seats in the 243-member Assembly," Lalan said. PTI NAC PKD MNB