RJD says Anant Singh not welcome into Grand Alliance, here’s what JDU has to say

The ruling JD (U) in Bihar has targeted RJD after its leader Tejashwi Yadav ruled out any room in his party for don-turned-MLA from Mokama, Anant Singh alias Chotte Sarkar.

Singh, a three-time MLA, has announced his plans to contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls on a Grand Alliance ticket.

“We cannot have bad elements like him into our party. His is an ideology that goes against the very idea of social justice, which our party has always been committed to,” Tejashwi Yadav told reporters in Patna.

Tejashwi’s remark against Singh, who represented Mokama assembly constituency twice on JD (U) ticket in 2005 and 2015, has sparked a strong reaction from the JD (U).

JD (U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, who unsuccessfully contested against Singh from Mokama in 2015 assembly elections, took a jibe at the RJD leader. “What types of element are Md Shahbuddin and Rajballabh Yadav? And what about Lalu Prasad,” he asked, wondering when the RJD would show the doors to these “element”.

While Shahbuddin, a former Siwan MP, is currently lodged in Tihar jail in connection with murder of two brothers in Siwan, Rajballabh was recently awarded life imprisonment in a rape case.

Anant Singh, who presently is an independent MLA from Mokama, has more than 20 cases of murder, attempt to murder, possession of illegal arms cases pending against him. He contested the 2015 assembly elections from jail and was granted bail in 2016.

The controversial MLA, of late, has been accusing Nitish Kumar of having “used and discarded” him while calling Lalu as “the leader with the largest support base in Bihar”.

However, if sources in Grand Alliance are to be believed, Singh, belonging to a dominant upper caste, is being backed by other GA partners, including Congress and Hindustani Awam Korcha (HAM).

Former chief minister and HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi backed Anant Singh’s entry into the GA, saying winnability should be the bigger issue for the alliance.

Anant Singh, known for his strong-arm style of politics, has been saying he will enter the fray from Munger even if it meant taking on Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan, a minister in Nitish Kumar cabinet. The Munger seat is currently represented by the LJP’s Veena Devi, wife of another history-sheeter Surajbhan Singh.

NDA sources do not deny the chances of Munger seat going the JD (U) way in the seat-sharing agreement.

Veena Devi, who had initially thrown a fit saying she would seek re-election from Munger even if it required her to resign from the LJP, has now changed tack and said she would be doing her party’s bidding.