On Thursday, in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the former president of the Janata Dal (United), RCP Singh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Singh launched a vicious attack on Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, whom he formerly regarded as his mentor, in which he claimed that Kumar had compromised with crime and corruption in order to gain power.
As their parties diverged and Singh was seen as more closely aligned with the BJP, Singh and Kumar’s friendship deteriorated last year. Singh made fun of his former mentor, accusing Kumar of compromising his opposition to crime and corruption in order to advance his political ambitions. Singh stated that he thought Kumar would have nothing in Bihar. He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts to improve the lives of the underprivileged and to lead the country as a whole.
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Singh attacked the Bihar Chief Minister by referring to him as a “palti maar,” or someone who regularly changes his attitude, in a clear and powerful comment. Singh said that Kumar had been and will always be referred to as “PM (palti maar).” Singh also questioned how India, with its purported lack of advancement, came to have the fifth-largest economy in the world.
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Kumar was also criticised for his efforts to foster unity among the opposition parties by Singh, who was forced to quit from the Modi cabinet when the JD(U) did not nominate him for a second term in the Rajya Sabha last year. Singh criticised Kumar for ignoring his obligations to advance Bihar’s development in favour of making protracted trips across several states.
Singh was lauded by Minister Pradhan, who emphasised his crucial contribution to the state’s JD(U) organization’s growth and his standing with society’s outcasts.
As a former bureaucrat, Singh worked for Kumar as a Union Minister and was influenced by the JD(U) leader to enter politics. Prior to their breakup, he was regarded as the most important figure in the party behind Nitish Kumar and had received two nominations for the Rajya Sabha.
RCP Singh’s switch from the JD(U) to the BJP represents a significant change in Bihar’s political environment and casts doubt on the longevity of the two parties’ alliance.
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