Rift wide open with BJP, Nitish convenes JD-U meet

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has convened a meeting of Janata Dal-United MLAs and MPs on Tuesday to discuss the scenario that has emerged following the exit of former national president R C P Singh, party chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan said on Monday.

Talking to reporters in Patna, Lalan did not react to speculations that Kumar was planning to walk out of the National Democratic Alliance but took exception to the claim that the Bharatiya Janata Party had decided who would be a minister from the JD-U.

"I read in the newspapers that R C P Singh has said that he was told by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that his name had been approved for ministership. He claims to have taken oath after informing the CM. But this only confirms what we have been accusing RCP of," the JD-U national president stated.

"Our charge is that RCP became a minister as per his own sweet will (apni marzi se). He has dropped the name of Shah. Does Shah belong to our party? Can the BJP decide which JD-U leader will become a minister," Lalan asked.

R C P Singh, who resigned from the party two days ago after being served a notice seeking explanation on allegations of corruption levelled by some JD-U members, was inducted into the Union cabinet last year.

Kumar, who had facilitated the former IAS officer's meteoric rise in politics, did not take kindly to the vaulting ambitions of the protege and RCP received a snub from the party a few months ago when he was not considered for another term at the Rajya Sabha.

Accordingly, the Union steel minister resigned upon expiry of his Rajya Sabha term but avoided venting spleen against Kumar in particular and party leadership in general until the corruption allegations served as the proverbial last straw on the camel's back.

"The chief minister has called the meeting of party lawmakers tomorrow to know their views about the situation that has emerged in the wake of the RCP episode," said Lalan, who had on Sunday called Kumar the maalik (boss) of the JD-U while insisting that the Bihar CM took all his decisions after due consultations with rank and file.