Patna: The Janata Dal (United) Tuesday dropped Okay.C. Tyagi because the celebration’s nationwide common secretary and chief spokesperson, bringing the chief’s practically two-decade-long stint because the face of the celebration within the nationwide capital to an finish.
The 73-year-old Tyagi didn’t discover a point out within the record of twenty-two nationwide common secretaries that JD(U) nationwide president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh launched Tuesday.
Former Member of Parliament and previous war-horse Mangani Lal Mandal has been appointed nationwide vice-president.
In Tyagi’s place, Rajiv Ranjan — an previous JD(U) hand who returned to the celebration fold in January — has been appointed because the celebration’s nationwide spokesperson.
Ranjan, who’s additionally a Kurmi chief like JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar — the present chief minister of Bihar — and comes from Nalanda district, had joined the BJP in August 2015, a yr after he was suspended from JD(U) for six years.
He was the state vice–president when he give up the celebration in December.
The brand new appointments imply that JD(U)’s new nationwide committee is now dominated by the “Luv-Kush” castes — the Kurmis and the Kushwahas. The castes have historically been the voter base of Nitish’s JDU.
On his half, Tyagi informed ThePrint that he didn’t have a lot to lose.
“It’s been 48 years (in politics for me),” Tyagi informed ThePrint. “I used to be first made the secretary of the erstwhile Lok Dal by Chaudhary Charan Singh. I used to be additionally made an workplace bearer by (previous socialist leaders like) Raj Narayan, Devi Lal, former prime minister Chandrashekhar, and (former UP chief minister) Mulayam Singh Yadav. Nitish Kumar was the ultimate one to nominate me.”
He additional stated: “I informed Nitishji that I might keep on provided that he stays the nationwide president. I made this supply when R.C.P. Singh was made nationwide president. I had reasserted my stand on the nationwide government meet of the celebration held in Patna final yr and Nitishji stated he would have to consider one thing else for me,” he stated, including he would stay within the JDU.
However for the celebration, Tyagi had been a significant hyperlink to Delhi and its political circles.
“The issue is that although Rajiv Ranjan is a gentleman, he doesn’t benefit from the nationwide recognition Okay.C. Tyagi does,” a JD(U) legislator who didn’t wish to be named informed ThePrint.
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The loyalist and the defender
It was via the late JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav that Tyagi first obtained in contact with Nitish within the late 90s and has since been a loyalist, firmly standing by the Bihar chief minister even when the opposite two leaders fell out in 2017.
It was Tyagi who gave hints to the press of Nitish’s impending break from the mahagathbandhan — an alliance comprising the JD(U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress, and the Left — in 2017. And when the Bihar chief minister determined to interrupt away from the BJP in 2022, Tyagi jumped to his defence.
“Nitish has not spoken one unsuitable phrase in opposition to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi,” he had stated then. “We would like Narendra Modi to reside until he’s 100 however we shall be political opponents, he declared
In August 2021, when the JD(U) was nonetheless an ally of the BJP, Tyagi had referred to as Nitish “PM materials”.
‘Sidelined’
An old-school socialist, Tyagi has been discovering himself more and more sidelined by the celebration in the previous few years — first with political strategist Prashant Kishor, then with R.C.P Singh, and later Lalan Singh — sources within the celebration stated.
“Okay.C. Tyagi was not reduce out to regulate to the brand new energy construction within the celebration. He by no means made it to Nitish’s inside staff and each time there have been talks about seat changes, Tyagi discovered himself omitted as Lalan and RCP took cost,” a JD(U) minister who didn’t wish to be named informed ThePrint, including that Tyagi had requested Nitish for a shot at one other time period in Rajya Sabha after his tenure resulted in 2016 however his request was ignored.
When his son Amrish Tyagi joined the BJP in 2021, his place grew to become much more tenuous, a celebration supply stated.
“Over the past three years, he got here to Patna solely when there was a celebration operate,” the JD (U) minister stated.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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