JD(U) not to join Union council of ministers: Party after RCP Singh resigned

JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan also said that the exit of RCP Singh from the party was along expected lines since "his body was here but his soul was elsewhere".

A day after RCP Singh resigned from the JD(U), Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s party on Sunday made it clear that it will not join the Union council of ministers, news agency PTI reported. The Union council of ministers has been left with no representation after the resignation of RCP Singh.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (PTI)

Addressing a press conference, JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan also said that the exit of RCP Singh from the party was along expected lines since "his body was here but his soul was elsewhere".

"We stick to our stand of 2019 when, after the Lok Sabha polls, we had decided not to join the government at the Centre," the JD(U) president said.

He, however, asserted "all is well" between his party and the BJP, dismissing speculation of rift that followed a number of recent developments, including the chief minister's decision to skip a NITI Aayog meeting chaired by the prime minister, reportedly citing post-COVID debility.

Former Union minister Singh on Saturday quit Kumar's Janata Dal (United), hours after reports surfaced that the party has sought an explanation from him over allegations of corruption levelled by some unidentified workers.

Singh, a former national president of the JD(U) who had to give up his cabinet berth following denial of another Rajya Sabha term by the party, made the announcement at a press conference he convened at his paternal home in Nalanda district.

"The allegations are a conspiracy by those who envied my getting inducted into the Union cabinet. I would like to tell them that those living in glass houses must not hurl stones at others. I also hereby give up my primary membership of the party," he said.