PATNA: The game of checkmating the rival’s pawn and protecting loyalists has now come into play in Bihar’s ruling JD(U).
A day after JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh ordered dissolution of different cells of the party, removal of all 40 In-charges of the parliamentary constituencies and shifting of two staunch loyalists of Union steel minister RCP Singh from the party’s state headquarters here, the latter on Friday appointed four of his loyalists as personnel aides in his office.
Sources in JD(U) said, RCP on Friday appointed four of his loyal party workers as his personal aides in the Union ministry. While former JD(U) MLA Abhay Kushwaha has been appointed as additional private secretary (APS) to the union steel minister; Santosh Mehta, Bishan Kumar Bittu and Arun Verma (trio JDU workers) have been appointed as assistant to the Union minister. Their services will continue as long as RCP remains as Union minister, sources said.
Known as a hardcore loyalist of the Union minister, Abhay Kushwaha had led the JD(U) leaders in arranging a grand reception for RCP right from Patna airport to the JD(U) state office on August 16 when the bureaucrat-turned-politician came here on his maiden visit after becoming the Union minister.
Earlier, Abhay courted controversy after he put up hundreds of posters on different cross-sections of Patna roads to welcome the Union steel minister on his maiden visit to the state capital, but the photo of JD(U) national president Lalan Singh was missing from those posters.
Abhay, who earlier held the post of state president of Yuva JD(U), was appointed as state general secretary of the JD(U) by the current party state president Umesh Kushwaha.
Earlier on Thursday, Lalan Singh, after holding a meeting to review the performance of different cells of the state JD(U), ordered for dissolutions of all 32 cells at the district and block levels. The idea of having a separate committee of all cells at the district and block level was floated by RCP Singh when he was the party’s national president. Moreover, the heads of all these cells were appointed by RCP.
Lalan also removed all 40 In-charges of the parliamentary constituencies who were chosen and appointed by RCP.
Moreover, the party’s two state general secretaries – Anil Kumar and Chandan Kumar Singh, who had been looking after the party’s crucial matters at the state headquarters for the last several years, were on Thursday shifted from the party headquarters and were asked to monitor the party affairs of Kishanganj and Araria districts, respectively.
Anil and Chandan, who are known loyalists of RCP, are said to be working for favourable propaganda of the Union steel minister while sitting in the state JD(U) office.
Before being elevated to the post of JD(U) national president on December 27 last year, RCP Singh also held the position of party's national general secretary (organisation) for many years, hecne he holds command on the JD(U) organisational set-up, right from block to the state level.
