RJD’s Tej Pratap, state chief lock horns; Tejashwi downplays row

PATNA: The simmering tension between Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son and MLA Tej Pratap Yadav and the party’s state unit president Jagdanand Singh burst into the open on Thursday after the two leaders sparred over an appointment within the party.

Tej Pratap threatened to register a case against Singh for “violating” the party’s constitution after the latter appointed Gagan Kumar as the RJD youth wing president, replacing Akash Yadav.

Akash was appointed as the youth wing president in May last year by Tej Pratap Yadav.

The decision by the state party chief was made following a closed door meeting with RJD leader and Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday.

Taking a swipe at the state party chief, Tej Pratap tweeted: “The president forgot that the party runs by the constitution and the constitution of RJD says that without giving notice, you cannot removeany office-bearer of the party. What happened today was against the constitution of RJD.”

“He owes an explanation for this,” he told a news channel later.

Singh, a close aide of Lalu Prasad, shot back saying he is answerable only to the RJD chief.

“Lalu Prasad is the president of RJD and no one else can ask him for clarification except him. Who is Tej Pratap?,” he said, adding that it was his responsibility to appoint the party’s student wing president.

“When I did not appoint anybody (earlier), where does the question of removal arise? I have appointed Gagan Kumar to this post,” he told reporters as he returned to the RJD office here after a gap of several days.

Hours later, Tej Pratap threatened to register a case against Singh and also demanded that the party initiate action against him.

“There is a concerted effort to demoralize youths in the party,” he told reporters, adding that he will discuss the matter with his brother Tejashwi Yadav.

“I will continue to fight unilateral decisions,” a visibly angry Tej Pratap said.

Tejashwi, however, sought to play down the fight. “Everyone has their own opinion. When I am the leader of the opposition and the national president is Lalu ji, there is no problem. Everything will be fine soon,” he said.

The resentment between Tej Pratap and Singh had been growing for a while with the former referring to the latter as “Hitler” at a recent meeting of the party’s student wing.

“There can be no Hitler in RJD. Words like Hitler have no place in the party. That’s why whatever someone says, I don’t pay attention to it,” Singh said. “There are three people on constitutional posts in RJD, president Lalu Prasad, leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav and the state unit president (himself),” he added.

Singh had stopped visiting the party office and had even skipped the Independence Day function.

Reacting to the developments, Janata Dal (United) vice-president Sanjay Singh said: “Tej Pratap is hurt because nobody in his party gives importance to him. It is a fight for the chair between the two brothers.”