Friday, Mar 07, 2014
Parna: Serious revolts have broken out in the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) after party chief Lalu Prasad’s announcement to field his daughter as a candidate from the coveted Patriputra Lok Sabha constituency which he had lost by a small margin last time.
The problem began soon after Lalu announced on Thursday the first list of candidates which contained the name of his wife Rabri Devi and eldest daughter Misa Bharti. While Rabri was named as a candidate from Saran seat, the home constituency of Lalu who has now been disqualified from contesting elections in the light of a recent Supreme Court judgement, Misa is to contest from Patliputra seat. However, the announcement triggered a chain of reactions in the party now trying hard to put up a united face.
Angry at the decision, a Rajya Sabha member and party’s national general secretary Ram Kripal Yadav who has been close to Lalu for the past over two decades has gone rebellious and is reported to have “resigned” from the party although this has not been officially confirmed. Indignant Yadav left for Delhi moments after he found his name missing from the list. Reports said Yadav is in touch with the BJP and could be the BJP candidate from this seat.
“What’s the meaning of staying in the party which I served for so many years…I am very much pained,” Yadav told the local media yesterday (Friday), adding he would take a decision over the future course of action in the next couple of days.
However, Lalu launched serious efforts on Friday to placate a defiant-looking Yadav and sent his daughter Misa to have talks with him. “If he (Yadav) is angry at my candidature then I am ready to withdraw from the contest. What is the point in contesting the election at the cost of annoying someone whom I address as my uncle?” Misa told a TV News channel, adding it was through the media that she came to know about his annoyance.
She said her decision to join politics was already quite late and also under pressures from many leaders. “I knew he (Yadav) still had two years left for his Rajya Sabha tenure. Had I even a little hint of his wish (to contest the Patliputra seat), I would not have accepted the party ticket,” she said. “He is my uncle and if he himself gets angry, there is no meaning in contesting the election,” she bemoaned, adding she no longer wanted to weaken the party’s fight for “social justice” by angering him.
The RJD chief Lalu too denied Yadav ever wished for this seat. “I thought he still has two years of Rajya Sabha tenure left and also I had lost this seat with a little margin last time, so I decided to field my daughter from here,” said Lalu.
Several other party leaders, such as Ghulam Ghaus, Shakuni Chaudhary and Suresh Paswan too have turned rebellious over denial of party tickets which they wanted to contest from their respective seats. Of them, Ghaus has announced to contest as an Independent candidate from West Champaran seat after denial of ticket.
Revolt of this nature at this crucial juncture is likely to cost the party dear already battling hard to restore normalcy. The fresh revolt comes close on the heel of recent split in the party which forced the RJD chief to march to the streets of Patna as a show of protest. Earlier, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan had quit his alliance with the RJD to join hands with the BJP.
By Lata Rani Correspondent
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
