RJD’s state vice-president quits party, calls Lalu autocrat

State vice-president of the RJD, former MLC Prem Kumari Mani, on Thursday quit the party and accused party chief Lalu Prasad of running the party like an autocrat and ignoring good and eligible leaders for nomination to the Rajya Sabha and Bihar’s Legislative Council.

State vice-president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD), former MLC Prem Kumari Mani, on Thursday quit the party and accused party chief Lalu Prasad of running the party like an autocrat and ignoring good and eligible leaders for nomination to the Rajya Sabha and Bihar’s Legislative Council.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad. (PTI)

Mani had switched to RJD from JD(U) in 2013. Seven seats of Bihar Legislative Council are going to vote on June 20. RJD, which expects to win three seats, has already announced its candidates. Mani’s name doesn’t figure in the list.

“In politics, everybody has aspirations. Even I have it. But the more important thing is that a party should run democratically and not like a badhshahat (autocracy). In RS polls, Laluji fielded his daughter and a former MLA who runs educational institutions. In Council polls, he has picked up candidates who have no locus standi, ignoring claims of senior and qualified leaders. This is wrong,” Mani said.

In his resignation letter to the RJD chief, Mani also accused the former Bihar chief minister of taking many decisions that only indirectly helped the BJP.

“The party had strengthened in your absence as Tejashwi Yadav (Lalu’s younger son and heir apparent) tried to cobble up support of all groups in 2020 assembly elections. It was I who advised Tejashwi to come out of family trappings and hoardings in assembly elections had only the face of the young leader. This helped in giving out a good message. But your (read Lalu) decision of allotting 70 seats to Congress cost the opposition’s grand alliance dearly as the grand old party scored low, facilitating the NDA to form government by a slender margin,” Mani said in his letter, which has been seen by HT.

Mani also accused the RJD chief of not having any intention to change his old ways of acting on “whims and fancies” and promoting frivolous people despite knowing that people of Bihar no longer connect with such kind of politics. “ I know you will never make way for Tejashwi or other eligible persons. You have turned the RJD as a mafia party. So, I am leaving the party,” Mani said.

When contacted, state RJD spokesperson Chittaranjan Gagan said Mani’s accusations against the ailing RJD chief were all baseless. “Those who choose to leave the party usually indulge in such useless talk and level baseless allegations,” Gagan said.