The simmering tension between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son and MLA Tej Pratap Yadav and the party’s state unit president Jagdanand Singh spilled out in the open on Thursday when the two publically clashed for the first time.
Matters came to a head on Wednesday evening, when Singh visited the RJD office after a gap of several days and appointed Gagan Kumar as the party’s youth wing president, replacing Akash Yadav, a nominee of Tej Pratap.
Venting his ire, Tej Pratap tweeted, “The president forgot that the party runs by the constitution and the constitution of RJD says that without giving notice, you cannot remove any office-bearer of the party. What happened today was against the constitution of RJD.”
“He owes an explanation for this,” he told a news channel on Thursday.
Singh, a close aide of Lalu Prasad, shot back saying he is answerable only to the RJD chief.
“Lalu Prasad is the president of RJD and no one else can ask him for clarification except him. Who is Tej Pratap?,” he said, adding that it was his responsibility to appoint RJD’s student wing president. “When I did not appoint anybody, where does the question of removal arise? I have appointed Gagan Kumar to this post,” he told reporters at RJD office in Patna on Thursday.
Hours later, Tej Pratap threatened to lodge a court case against Singh for “violating” the party’s constitution and demanded that the party take action against him. “There is a concerted effort to demoralize youths in the party,” he said while talking to media persons on Thursday evening. He said he will discuss the matter with Tejashwi.
“I will continue to fight unilateral decisions,” a visibly angry Tej Pratap said.
The tension between Jagdanand Singh and Tej Pratap Yadav has been building up for some time. During a meeting of RJD’s student wing recently, Tej Pratap had used words like Hitler from the stage while referring to Singh.
“There can be no Hitler in RJD. Words like Hitler have no place in the party. That’s why whatever someone says, I don’t pay attention to it,” Singh later said in response. “There are three people on constitutional posts in RJD, president Lalu Prasad, leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav and the state unit president (himself),” he said.
Singh had stopped coming to the party office after Tej Pratap’s diatribe against him and even skipped the I-Day function at the party office.
On Wednesday, he came to party office after having a closed-door meeting with Tejashwi Yadav and announced his decision to appoint a new youth wing president.
On his part, Tejashwi, Lalu Prasad’s younger son and RJD’s heir apparent, sought to play down the war of words between his brother and the state president. “Everyone has their own opinion. When I am the leader of opposition and national president is Lalu ji, there is no problem. Everything will be fine soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ruling Janata Dal (United) seized the opportunity to take a swipe at the rival party. “Tej Pratap is hurt because nobody in his party gives importance to him. It is a fight for the chair between the two brothers,” said JD(U) vice-president Sanjay Singh.