Union minister RCP Singh likely to join BJP in 3-4 months

Union minister RCP Singh is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in three to four months, a spokesman for the party has said even as he denied claims that the Janata Dal (United) or JD (U) leader attended its national executive meeting in Hyderabad over the weekend.

The JD (U) did not nominate Singh for the Rajya Sabha in May and raised questions over his continuation as a minister amid speculation about his possible defection to BJP. Singh is the sole member of the JD (U), which runs the coalition government with the BJP in Bihar, in the Union council of ministers.

Santosh Pathak, a BJP spokesman, said Singh’s situation in JD (U) is rocky. “If he joins BJP now, then the tensions between the two parties will increase… Right now, he has not joined the party, but may be he will in three or four months,” said Pathak. He referred to viral photos of Singh at the Hyderabad airport ahead of the national executive meeting and said they were taken during the welcoming ceremony of the BJP leaders. Pathak insisted Singh did not attend the meeting.

Singh’s ties with JD (U) chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar are believed to have been strained. BJP was expected to accommodate Singh as it did in the case of Suresh Prabhu after he quit the Shiv Sena for his induction into the Union council of ministers. But BJP is said to be wary of upsetting JD (U).

A minister has to be a member of Parliament or become one of either its Houses within six months from the date of taking the oath. Singh will have to resign if he fails to get nominated to Rajya Sabha within six months from the date of expiration of his term on July 7.

HT reached out to Singh and J D(U) for comments but did not get responses immediately.