Former minister and ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Sudhakar Singh on Wednesday defended his repeated attacks on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, saying they were in line with his party’s consistent ideology.
He stuck to his guns hours after RJD leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav dismissed Singh’s criticism while calling the former minister an agent of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Singh, who was the agriculture minister before Kumar dropped him, said he was raising farmer issues, which is part of RJD’s economic and political policies. “Had I got anything to do with the BJP, why would I raise farmers’ issues? The man [Kumar] who was with the BJP for 17 years and is still following the old policies should answer whether he has a tacit understanding with [the BJP]…”
Singh, whose father Jagdanand Singh has also been upset and stayed away from the RJD office for nearly two months, said Kumar would like to get him ousted from the RJD. He said such things did not matter to him as he does not treat politics as a job to appease the master. “I have raised pertinent issues facing the farmers and my party top brass including Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav, and my father and state party president Jagtanand Singh have always assured me that the matters would be addressed at an appropriate time.”
He said he was waiting for the appropriate time but it was running out. “If nothing is to be done for reviving the mandi system, ensuring minimum support price to farmers…addressing issues of sugarcane farmers, Kumar should say as much.”
He rejected the impression that his outbursts were part of a calculated RJD strategy to pressurize Kumar to quit and let Tejashwi take over. “It is for Kumar to say and Tejashwi to respond. I am a small party worker and I have confined myself to farmers’ issues. I am not a contender for the post… I just want the issues of farmers to be addressed.”
He said the abolishment of the mandi system in 2006 left the farmers in bad shape. “Other leaders also feel it but they refuse to speak. It is the failure of democracy. I will never back out.”
Political analysts said Singh’s attacks were part of a strategy to unsettle Kumar ahead of his state-wide travel and to ensure he leaves the top post. Kumar has said Tejashwi Yadav will lead the ruling Grand Alliance in the 2025 state elections.
When Sudhakar Singh was the agriculture minister, he described Kumar’s agricultural road map utter failure even as the state government has maintained it has transformed the farm sector. Sudhakar promised a probe into the road map before he was sacked.
Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait has backed Singh and threatened an agitation in Bihar if the government did not restore the mandi system.
