Estranged Nitish aide R.C.P. Singh floats own party

Former Union Minister R.C.P. Singh launches new party Aap Saabki Aawaz after falling out with JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar.

Former Union Minister R.C.P. Singh, who had to quit his cabinet berth after falling out of favour with JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar, on Thursday (October 31, 2024) floated a new party, Aap Saabki Aawaz.

Talking to reporters here on the occasion, Mr. Singh said he chose the day for the launch as besides Deepavali, it was also the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.

Incidentally, Patel is seen as a cultural icon by the powerful OBC community Kurmi, to which both Mr. Kumar and Mr. Singh belong, and the latter profusely thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for celebrating the birth anniversary on a grand scale.

Mr. Singh, the bureaucrat-turned-politician, did not take any question and did not speak of his relations with the JD(U), which he had once headed but left in disgrace, and the BJP, which he joined a year ago, only to remain sidelined.

He, however, made it clear that his party was looking forward to contesting the Bihar assembly polls due next year and already had prospective candidates for "140 out of 243 seats".

Mr. Singh indirectly targeted Mr. Kumar by attacking the much-touted prohibition law in the State and highlighting the deterioration in government education institutions, "a far cry from our student days when we could crack the civil services, without reservation facility and with no coaching".

Hailing from the same Nalanda district as the Bihar Chief Minister, Mr. Singh was an Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer, and on central deputation, he first came in contact with Mr. Kumar, then the railway minister.