PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Bihar president Jagdanand Singh, who is rumoured to be sulking after his sonSudhakar Singh was forced to resign as agriculture minister, said he was taking “rest and was on a holiday”.
Jagdanand Singh, who skipped the party’s national council on October 10, did not comment on reports that he had also resigned from the leadership role in the Bihar RJD unit.
“I have nothing to say about media reports,” he told HT on phone from his home in Kaimur district. The veteran politician said this was his first holiday of working without a break for three years and that he was just enjoying time with family and friends.
Asked when he planned to return to Patna or resume party work, Singh shot back: “I am resting now. Don’t I have the right to take time off?”.
Singh’s first statement after days of going incommunicado is seen to signal that the staunch Lalu loyalist may have “softened’ a bit and probably still holding on to his post”. The buzz in Patna was that Singh had made the offer in a letter to his boss, Lalu Prasad Yadav, but the resignation hadn’t been accepted.
Some party leaders said the RJD chief has indicated to Jagdanand Singh that he would like him to continue but made it clear that ‘embarrassing the government or chief minister Nitish Kumar would not be tolerated, and that he was keen to continue the partnership with Nitish Kumar.
Singh is a prominent Rajput leader and former Buxar Lok Sabha member, and is considered a key strategist and organisational man. Singh got a second term as state president on September 20 this year; he was elected unopposed.
To be sure, prominent RJD leaders such as deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav have either evaded commenting on reports of Jagdanand Singh’s reported resignation.
Another leader denied that he had resigned or made the offer. “Jagdanand Singh has not resigned at all and is holding his post. There are all chances he will resume work soon. This is the present situation at the party. If any decision is taken, it will be after RJD chief returns from Singapore,” said a senior party leader, close to Lalu Prasad Yadav.
