Party old-timers feel that they are not part of the decision-making process any longer.
New Delhi: Bihar-based Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is witnessing a gradual shift from the old guard to young turks with many senior party leaders feeling unhappy due to it as they are not the part of decision making process in the party any more. Sources have confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that Lalu Prasad Yadav’s heir apparent and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and his advisors are taking major policy decisions and that had led to a certain level of alienation among the old guard. The feeling of alienation of the old timers is also from Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose decisions regarding ticket distribution in Rajya Sabha polls is not going well with many senior leaders. One party leader on the condition of anonymity said, “the decision on Rajya Sabha seats were taken by Lalu Prasad Yadav, not many within the party are happy with the choice, but at this age they can’t go anywhere. Tejashwi is not opposing it because he knows it will create rift in the family, he is waiting for the time.”
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Santosh Singh, a senior political analyst based in Patna who had seen the RJD from close quarters, said, “Yes, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has developed as a leader in the last few years and is playing a role in the party’s decision making process. But, even now, he needs to learn lessons from Akhilesh Yadav and have to sideline the family considerations; then only he can emerge victorious in the politics of Bihar.
In the Rajya Sabha polls, instead of sending someone from the family, Akhilesh Yadav chose Jayant Chaudhary, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief, to send a larger message across the state about his accommodative politics. But, in the case of RJD, Lalu Yadav is the supreme boss. It is right that on policy issues, Tejashwi Yadav and those close to him are calling the shots, but as far as giving tickets are concerned Lalu Prasad Yadav is taking decisions. I feel RJD needs to give tickets impartially.”
The senior leaders like Shivanand Tiwari and Abdul Bari Siddiqui who were once at the centre of Bihar politics and close to Lalu Yadav have not been given any legislative assignment. In 2018, Rajya Sabha polls, the party sent Ahmed Ashfaque Karim, who runs a group of private colleges, in 2020 the party sent Amarendra Dhari Singh, another industrialist and now in 2022 it is sending Misa Bharti and Fayaz Ahmed (who runs a private medical college). In 2020, late Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a former union minister who was with the party boss for more than three decades resigned from the RJD likewise former Union minister and senior leader Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi left the party in 2019 and joined the Janata Dal (United). Only the choice of Manoj Jha, who puts the party’s socailist perspective passionately and factually in the Rajya Sabha is considered a right choice by many in Bihar.
Party leaders are tight lipped on the issue of old guards getting sidelined in the party and argue contrary to it. Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Nawal Kishore, RJD’s national spokesperson, said, “There is no rift in the party. For the party what matters is the utility of the leader, we give equal respect to everyone and any decision is made after due consultation with all the concerned senior leaders.”
The RJD is the principal opposition party in Bihar. It won the highest number of seats in the last Bihar assembly polls held in 2020 and ruled the state for 15 long years between 1990-2005. After reaching a historic political low of 22 Assembly seats in 2010 polls, it is trying to reinvent itself through its 32-year-old leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.