PATNA: On Monday, Rashtriya Janata Dal cast doubt on the letters written by its founding member Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, from his hospital bed, just a couple of days before taking his last breath, prompting angry reactions from the ruling NDA in Bihar.
Singh, who died at AIIMS, New Delhi on Sunday, had announced his resignation from the party on Thursday vide a handwriting addressed to the jailed RJD supreme Lalu prasad and followed with a series of communications, the next day, drawing the attention of the prime minister Nitish kumar towards a number of issues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while paying valuable tributes to the late leader on Sunday, also referred to Singh’s letter to Bihar’s chief minister, where he raised the issue of developing his former seat at Lok Sabha, Vaishali.
“I will ask Nitish Kumar to implement the development projects that he wrote about in the letter. Together, the state and the Center, let us fulfill his wishes,” Modi said.
Nitish Kumar, who is Lalu Prasad’s archrival and heads Janata Dal (United), had told reporters at the assembly hall on Sunday night, where Singh’s remains were taken on the way to his hometown. for cremation, “we have begun to act on the requests of the late Raghuvansh babu.
“Some questions raised by him fall within the scope of the Center and we have referred them to the Union government for it to adopt the appropriate measures.”
Among other things, Singh had sought to extend the benefits of MGNREGA to the agricultural sector.
He had also expressed the wish that a huge begging bowl believed to have been used by the Buddha, now kept in a museum in restless Kabul, be brought from the capital of Afghanistan and kept in the Vaishali district, where the late leader belonged and that is one of the many places identified as part of the “Buddha Circuit”.
A screenshot of Nitish Kumar’s written response to Singh, written while he was still alive, was also shared on the official Twitter account of the prime minister’s office.
The letter Singh sent him had surprised Lalu Prasad, who responded the same day saying: “I don’t think … a letter supposedly written by you is on social media. Me, my family and the RJD family who have breastfed Quiero that you recover soon and be among us. You are not going anywhere. ”
After learning of the death of his longtime partner, the RJD chief tweeted on Sunday: “The day before yesterday I told you that you were not going anywhere. But you have gone so far. I am speechless, I am sad You will always be in my memory “.
RJD MLA Bhai Virendra and MLC Subodh Rai smelled a rat and stated that “no person, admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital, can write a letter.”
Singh had been admitted to the AIIMS ICU about a week ago for treatment of complications he had developed after recovering from Covid-19. He was put on a ventilator late on Friday and he died less than 48 hours later.
Rai, who claimed to have met Singh in Patna after his recovery from the coronavirus, said he was “obviously upset by many things that he had freely expressed. But he never betrayed any intention to quit the party he had nurtured. The state government is doing so. “. policy on the matter “.
Notably, Singh, while undergoing treatment for Covid-19, announced his resignation from the post of national vice president, upset by reports of a mob don turned politician. Rama Singh, by whom he was defeated in Vaishali in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, joining the RJD.
Bhai Virendra noted that the letters written to Nitish Kumar were “too many in number and shared on social media at too short intervals” and claimed that the entire episode pointed to “an NDA conspiracy.”
The RJD leaders found support from the leader of Congress, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who had previously been with Lalu Prasad’s party.
“I met Raghuvansh babu just a week ago. He was a transparent man and if he had really been thinking about quitting his party, he would not have tried to hide it. There is some conspiracy on some level,” said the congressional leader.
There is much speculation that the former Union minister, who remained loyal to Lalu Prasad for more than three decades, changed his mind over his eldest son, Satya Prakash Singh, who is said to have quit his corporate job with the intention of doing the political plunge.
The JD (U) is said to have been proposing a legislative council seat for the son of the veteran RJD leader since before his death.
However, the NDA expressed outrage at the insinuations of the RJD leaders.
“They don’t appear to be ashamed. They never cared for his well-being while he struggled for life. Singh was proud of his roots in Vaishali, the seat of the world’s first republic, and raised a problem related to it.
“The RJD is talking nonsense. Even Lalu did not show the recklessness to question Singh’s actions,” angered Neeraj Kumar, senior leader of JD (U) and minister of state at the Department of Information and Public Relations.
BJP state spokesperson Nikhil Anand said “Singh had been tormented by the pettiness of the new generation of RJD leaders. Who can forget?” Tej Pratap Yadavdegrading comments. Cursed by its founding member, the party is now on the brink of extinction. ”
Yadav, the fickle eldest son of the ruler of RJD, had reacted to Singh’s exodus by saying “a lota (pot) of water makes no difference in an ocean.”
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