RJD leader Shyam Rajak’s meeting with Chirag Paswan in Delhi triggers speculations

PATNA: RJD national general secretary Shyam Rajak met Jamui MP Chirag Paswan at his New Delhi residence on Saturday, triggering speculations about a new political equation likely to emerge in the state following a recent split in the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). Rajak described their meeting as personal.
It was the first meeting of a senior RJD leader with Chirag after Lalu’s son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav offered the Jamui MP to join the opposition camp.
The meeting also assumes significance as Chirag suspended his ‘ashirwad yatra’ abruptly on Friday and rushed to Delhi after the Delhi high court rejected his petition against the Lok Sabha Speaker’s decision to recognise his uncle and Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Pras as the LJP parliamentary party leader in the House. Paras was subsequently made food processing industries minister in the Union cabinet despite Chirag’s opposition.
The state president of Chirag faction of LJP, Raju Tiwari, said his leader was seeking legal opinion against the high court’s decision. “Chirag will resume his ‘yatra’ on July 16,” Tiwari said.
Before his meeting with Chirag, Rajak also met RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who is recuperating at the residence of his elder daughter Misa Bharti, a Rajya Sabha member. Both Chirag and Rajak belong to the scheduled castes.
Both Chirag and Tejashwi have predicted the fall of the NDA government government in Bihar. Chirag also said mid-term poll in the state appeared to be imminent due to internal conflict between BJP and JD(U).
Sources said Rajak also met Congress’s in-charge of Bihar Bhakt Charan Das and former Congress MP Meira Kumar, another scheduled caste.
JD(U) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, however, described both Chirag and Tejashwi as ‘Funka hua kartoos’ (used cartridges), which have no use. To drive home his point, Neeraj referred to the last assembly poll results when Chirag’s LJP and Tejashwi’s RJD contested against the NDA. “There is no match for CM Nitish Kumar, who has a vision and is also hardworking,” he said.