The Bihar Legislative Council election for eight seats — four each for teacher and graduate constituencies — has brought to the fore the fissures within political parties and alliances, especially within the NDA.
another NDA partner, the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) is witnessing an internal revolt While the Janata Dal (United) wants to contain the feud between Mokama MLA Anant Singh and three-term MLC Neeraj Kumar following the intervention of Union minister Lalan Singh.
RLM MLA Anand Madhav dared party chief Upendra Kushwaha not to ignore the sentiments of party leaders. “If three of the four MLAs are taking any decision, it is the party decision. “The party runs with the support of workers and we don’t want them to feel ignored. When it was the question of a minister, we backed the decision, but right now it is not a question of minister,” he added, pointing to the differences within the party when Deepak Prakash was made the minister. This is not the first time the three MLAs have dissented. In January they gave the party leadership a scare over the appointment of Panchayati Raj minister Deepak Prakash, who was then not a member of either House. The same was reiterated by deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary during a media interaction at the party office. “Lalan Singh has acted to resolve the matter and he has brought certain things to the knowledge of the party. Things have moved towards resolution,” he added. However, senior party leaders admitted that the Anant Singh-Neeraj Kumar fight was far from over and the JD-U would bide its time to see the impact during the elections before taking any action. “There has been a dent on party discipline, but this is not the time to take any action.
Because rLM has four MLAs, if Deepak Prakash is today a minister, it is also.
We are working for the strength and respect of the party and more people can join us, as ours is the party line,” said Madhav. He said that three of the four MLAs not only took a decision, but also participated in the nomination filing, which witnessed a lot of enthusiasm among party workers. JD-U working president Sanjay Jha said that Lalan Singh had worked in the best interest of the party. “We have updated party chief Nitish Kumar about all the developments and nominations during a meeting with him,” he added. There may be more to it than meets the eye and it will gradually unravel,” said a senior leader.
