Former JD(U) president RCP Singh joins Saffron BJP party , attacks ‘palti maar’Nitish
NEW DELHI : Former JD (U) President RCP Singh joined the BJP Thursday, and said party boss and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would always be a PM — that is, a “Palti Maar (one who skips from one party to another)”. Singh’s dig was at Kumar’s rumored aspiration to be the PM or Prime Minister of the country, as he traverses Opposition states to shore up an anti-BJP front for 2024.
Singh was denied a re nomination from the Rajya Sabha from Bihar last year, which forced him to resign from the Union ministry. Soon, the JD(U) issued him a show-cause over disproportionate assets – following which he quit the party. RCP Singh, former JDU leader and union minister, joined the BJP on Thursday. Singh, a former aide of Nitish Kumar, was a flash point between BJP and JDU during the NDA government in Bihar. Taking a dig at Nitish, Singh said that the Bihar chief minister will remain a “PM contender” forever. “PM means ‘palti maar’ (Nitish has always changed sides).
Singh had an acrimonious exit from JDU after the party refused to re nominate him as a member of the Rajya Sabha. He was the union steel minister in the NDA government and lost his ministerial berth as a result. The party soon started proceedings for proceedings for disproportionate assets against him, after which he quit the JDU. Singh, a former bureaucrat, has also been president of the JDU at one point.
Joining the BJP in the presence of Dharmendra Pradhan, Singh said, “Can you tell me the name of another chief minister who is in three different states in three days? Why is he so interested in Opposition leaders and not in the people of Bihar.”
Singh was denied a renomination from the Rajya Sabha from Bihar last year, which forced him to resign from the Union ministry. Soon, the JD(U) issued him a show-cause over disproportionate assets – following which he quit the party.Pic: Pti.
