Patna: In a dramatic development, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, one of the founding members of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and political companion of Lalu Prasad Yadav for almost three decades, left the party.He announced the decision in a hand-written letter addressed to Lalu, who is admitted in the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi. Raghuvansh Prasad is himself in the ICU of AIIMS, Delhi with a lung infection.In the letter, he writes, “After the demise of Jananayak Karpoori Thakur, I stood behind you for 32 years, but not now. The party, the leader, the activist and the public have given great affection, forgive me.”RJD has not accepted his resignation. Instead, within hours of Raghuvansh Prasad’s letter going public, Lalu wrote an emotional letter to him. This letter too was handwritten. Lalu wrote, “Dear Raghuvansh Babu, an alleged letter written by you is being circulated in the media. I don’t believe that (letter). Right now, along with me and my family, the RJD family wants you to recover from your illness. We want to see you among us.”“In four decades, we have sat together to resolve every political, social and even family matter. We wish your early recovery from the illness, then we will sit and talk. You are not going anywhere,” Lalu Prasad Yadav wrote.We will talk once you are well. You are not going anywhere: RJD leader Lalu Yadav in a letter to Raghuvansh Prasad SinghRaghuvansh Prasad Singh had resigned from the party, earlier today and is currently admitted at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. pic.twitter.com/wGu68MTsCJ— ANI (@ANI) September 10, 2020Raghuvansh Prasad’s letter, written from the hospital bed, has sent shockwaves across the RJD leadership. Bihar is headed for assembly elections and there have long been grumblings about the party’s leadership. Prasad’s resignation is yet another pointer that all may not be well within the party.“We do not know why he wrote this letter. The RJD leaders were meeting him regularly and taking care of him. Recently, Tejashwi Yadav had also met him,” said Naval Kishore, RJD’s national spokesperson.It is believed that Raghuvansh Prasad was upset with Tej Pratap Yadav’s statement, in which Lalu’s eldest son said that the veteran leader’s status in RJD is equal to just ek lota pani (one mug of water). However, Tej Pratap Yadav later said that Singh is a family member and will be persuaded to stay.Former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. Photo: Twitter/@iraghuvanshLong tryst with Lalu and RJDPrasad, a five-time MLA from the Belsand assembly seat, was a minister during Karpoori Thakur’s government. He was elected to parliament for the first time in 1996, from the Vaishali Lok Sabha seat on a Janata Dal ticket.In July 1997, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Raghuvansh Prasad and many more MPs of the Janata Dal formed the RJD after separating from the Janata Dal. Since then, he continued to win from Vaishali on the RJD’s ticket until 2009.In the 2014 general elections, he was defeated by Rama Singh by around 1 lakh votes. In the 2019 general election, again contested from Vaishali seat but this time lost to another LJP leader, Veena Devi. She won with a margin of around 2.3 lakh votes.During his career as an RJD leader, he also became a Union minister in the UPA government and held top positions in several important committees.Resignation from party postIn June this year, when Raghuvansh Prasad had COVID-19 and was admitted to Patna AIIMS, he had resigned as the national vice-president of RJD. On the day he resigned, five MLCs of RJD joined the JD(U). At that time, it was rumoured that Raghuvansh Prasad too could join the ruling party but that did not happen. Both the BJP and JD(U) reached out to him but he didn’t respond.Raghuvansh Prasad stepping down from the party post was seen as an expression of dissatisfaction with the RJD’s plan to induct Rama Singh. The LJP leader, also from the Vaishali region, contested against Raghuvansh Prasad in the Vaishali Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 general election. Both these leaders also belong to the Rajput caste. Prasad’s resignation forced the party to put off Rama Singh’s induction.Also Read: Bihar: Defection of Five RJD MLCs Sets off Grumblings About Leadership CrisisThough Raghuvansh Prasad has not revealed his reasons for leaving the party, the JD(U) has linked it to lack of respect for the leader and alleged corruption in the party.JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said that the RJD, which speaks of restoring the honour of Bihar, could not even honour a stalwart like Raghuvansh Babu. “We salute Raghuvansh Babu for abandoning a party steeped in corruption,” he said.Reacting to these accusations, RJD leader Naval Kishore denied that Raghuvansh Prasad was not respected within the party. “Raghuvanshji is a founding member of the party. The strong relationship that Laluji and Raghuvanshji have is evident from the letter of Laluji. I do not think that any leader of contemporary politics has written such an emotional letter for his companion,” he said.“There was no resentment on Raghuvanshji’s part. He is hospitalised and our concern now is that he gets well soon,” he said.On the question of JD(U)’s allegations, he said, “JD(U) should see what it did to their own leaders like George Fernandes, (late) Digvijay Singh, Sharad Yadav and others. It is the same with the BJP. But, this [Raghuvansh Prasad’s resignation] is an internal matter of the party. It is not proper to comment on internal matters.”File photo of RJD leader Lalu Prasad. Photo: PTIWhat does it mean for RJD?Political observers believe that Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s exit may not have much of an impact on the electoral front in the assembly elections.Political analyst Mahendra Suman told The Wire, “Raghuvansh Prasad Singh is among the last breed of upper caste socialist leaders. He once had the upper caste vote bank, which anyway helped the RJD. But there has been an unprecedented polarisation in the upper caste vote bank towards the BJP since 2014. Upper caste voters of Vaishali respect Raghuvansh Prasad but may not vote for him.”“So, there is little chance that his exit will impact RJD electorally. But the party’s bid to attract upper caste voters will suffer a setback,” he said.He added that the RJD is going through a period of transition. “Old leaders are being replaced by young blood. It may be that Raghuvanshji is feeling uncomfortable with the young leadership of the RJD. He is not a diplomatic leader who can adjust. He is an akkad (rigid) leader.”Umesh Kumar Ray is an independent journalist.
