RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s efforts to appease Bihar’s “upper castes” suffered a setback on Saturday when his confidant, former Union minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh, quit the party in protest against seat talks with the LJP.
Mr Singh, a former MP from Motihari (now East Champaran), is the second major “upper-caste” leader in the RJD who has protested against Mr Yadav this week, worrying party election strategists. Maharajganj MP Umashankar Singh resigned from the RJD’s parliamentary board on Friday, a day after saying Mr Yadav was acting like a “dictator”.
While Akhilesh Singh, who met the Congress’ Bihar in-charge, Mr Mukul Wasnik, two days ago, is most likely to join the Congress, Mr Umashankar Singh has clarified he has no plans to quit the RJD.
Considered one of the few senior RJD leaders to whom the party chief regularly turned for advice on strategic matters, Mr Akhilesh Singh had been upset as possibilities grew about his nominees being denied party tickets in Bihar’s October-November Assem-bly polls. n More: Page 2