Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has issued a notice to former minister Sudhakar Singh over his statements against chief minister Nitish Kumar, saying they have hurt the party while warning of disciplinary action amid reports of a rift in the ruling alliance.
The notice is being seen as an attempt to deflect attention from the row over education minister Chandrashekhar’s remarks that epic Ramcharitmanas promoted social discrimination and spread hatred in society.
Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) has been critical of Chandrashekhar and demanded action and an apology. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought to cash in on the controversy.
Kumar on Tuesday called for respecting all religions and not demeaning them days after Chandrashekhar’s remarks provoked outrage.
The notice was issued on Tuesday on RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s directions. It said only the party’s top leadership was authorised to speak on alliance issues. “You have violated this and given strength to forces trying to trample the Constitution and destroy equality and harmony.”
The notice asked Singh to respond within 15 days about why disciplinary action should not be initiated against him.
RJD leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav earlier described Singh as a BJP agent. But Singh kept attacking Kumar, saying this was in line with RJD’s old and consistent ideology.
Singh questioned Kumar’s agricultural road map and described it as an utter failure. He demanded the revival of the mandi system and spoke about systemic corruption in the government.
Singh last week said Kumar would like him to get ousted from the RJD as he dropped him from the Cabinet. “But such things do not matter to me. I do not do politics to appease the master. I have raised farmers’ issues and will continue to do so,” Singh said.
Former AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies director DM Diwakar said the notice is an indication that RJD does not want to ruffle the JD(U) further but this does not mean the power struggle within the alliance will stop. “JD(U) leaves no opportunity to highlight Nitish Kumar’s achievements by drawing comparisons with the [previous] RJD regime.”
He added both the RJD and JD(U) would not like to see the disintegration of the alliance. “Both have compulsions to continue with each other if they want to keep the BJP at bay. The RJD has numerical strength and it would like to have supremacy on that count. JD(U) has the leader [Kumar], who has been at the helm for close to two decades.” He said that neither can do without the other.
Tejashwi Yadav has denied reports of the rift within the ruling alliance even as he defended Chandrashekhar. He asked people to be mindful of the BJP’s conspiracies and cautioned his party colleagues to respect all religions.
