JD(U) wants ‘respectable share’ in Union cabinet: RCP Singh

PATNA: Being the biggest BJP ally in the NDA, Bihar’s ruling JD(U) has once again revived its demand of “proportional representation” in the Union cabinet.
Sources said JD(U)’s top leadership has conveyed to the BJP that CM Nitish Kumar’s party would join the Union cabinet only when it was offered a “proportional representation” in the Narendra Modi cabinet. JD(U) has 16 Lok Sabha members from Bihar.
In 2019, JD(U) had refused to join the Modi cabinet after the BJP offered it only one berth as a ‘symbolic representation’ to its all allies. Then, the LJP having six Lok Sabha members from Bihar, had accepted the formula of symbolic representation and its founder (now late) Ram Vilas Paswan took oath as the cabinet minister.
But Nitish, the then JD(U) president, declined the offer, saying the allies should be given ‘proportional representation’ in the Union cabinet.
A senior JD(U) leader, who did not want to be identified, pointed out that the BJP has 17 members in the current Lok Sabha from Bihar and the party has five ministers (three cabinet and two state ministers) in the Modi government.
“On the same pattern, the BJP leadership should provide at least five berths to JD(U) as it has 16 Lok Sabha members from the state,” he told TOI on Sunday. He said our leader Nitish Kumar always batted for “proportional representation” and never favoured “symbolic representation”.
However, JD(U) national president and Rajya Sabha member RCP Singh talked about a “respectable share” in the Modi cabinet on Saturday when reporters asked him whether JD(U) would join the Union cabinet. “We are a part of the NDA. .....all constituents deserve a respectable share (in the Union cabinet),” Singh told mediapersons at the JD(U)’s state office here.
When asked whether JD(U) would “demand” a respectable share for itself in the expected expansion of the Union cabinet, Singh quipped, “Where is the question of demanding? It is a matter of understanding. It has to be natural.”
Sources said JD(U) wants at least four berths in the Union cabinet. “If it is offered four berths, leaders like RCP Singh, Munger MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Purnia MP Santosh Kushwaha and Rajya Sabha member Ramnath Thakur may get a chance to become the members of Modi cabinet,” another JD(U) leader said.
On Sunday, RCP refused to comment whether LJP chief Chirag Paswan would be inducted into the Modi cabinet in the upcoming expansion.
Some leaders from Bihar BJP may also be included in the Union cabinet. Speculations are rife about former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and state BJP chief Dr Sanjay Jaiswal.