New Delhi: Former Janata Dal (United) heavyweight RCP Singh joined the BJP Thursday, and said party boss and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would always be a PM — that is, a “Palti Maar (one who skips from one party to another)”.
Singh’s dig was at Kumar’s rumoured aspiration to be the PM or Prime Minister of the country, as he traverses Opposition states to shore up an anti-BJP front for 2024.
Singh was denied a renomination from the Rajya Sabha from Bihar last year, which forced him to resign from the Union ministry. Soon, the JD(U) issued him a show-cause over disproportionate assets – following which he quit the party.
On Thursday, Singh accused his former mentor Nitish Kumar of doing everything for his love of the chair. “People call him PM sometimes. I have said he was, is and will remain a PM — Palti Maar — because he has betrayed the public many times. Nothing will be left in Bihar of Nitish Kumar,” Singh said after joining the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Patna.
A former bureaucrat, Singh was once a confidant of Nitish Kumar. The Bihar chief minister even got him inducted in the Modi Cabinet at the Centre, when he was a BJP ally.
They fell out after Kumar grew suspicious of Singh’s equations with the BJP leadership and denied him a Rajya Sabha renomination, forcing him to resign from the central cabinet last year.
Singh said Thursday: “Leaders have said no work is happening in the country. I would like to ask Nitish Kumar how India is the fifth largest economy if no work is happening. Where is Bihar today? When the NDA government was formed in 2005, so much hard work went into it. But you go to Bihar today, and everything is in shambles,” said Singh.
Singh then questioned Kumar’s commitment to Bihar considering he was roaming the country – “Tell me the name of one chief minister who is in three states in three days?”
“Why is he there? Bihar’s public has given him the mandate, but where is he putting his energy? He talks about Opposition unity but where is a leader to lead the Opposition?” Singh asked.
Corruption notice and quitting party
The Janata Dal (United) issued a show-cause notice in 2022 to Singh over the purchase of 58 plots of land by his family members in nine years. Earlier that year, Singh had resigned from the Union Ministry after the JD (U) did not renominate him to the Rajya Sabha.
After the JD(U) notice, Singh resigned from the party and indicated he might join the BJP.
The animosity between Nitish Kumar and Singh increased with the former JD(U) leader’s proximity to the BJP. In February 2021, Singh made a donation of Rs 1.11 lakh for the Ram Mandir, becoming the first non-BJP MP to do so.
This was believed to have upset Nitish Kumar, who has avoided being involved in the Ram Mandir issue due to its sensitivity. Even during the dispute between the BJP and the JD(U) over holding a caste census, Singh had remained silent.
Also read: ‘Craving power’ or wish to serve? Why ex-IPS & IAS officers are making a beeline for Bihar politics