RJD leaders attend Union minister's human chain event

Union Minister of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha on Tuesday got support from unexpected quarters when senior leaders from the Opposition RJD literally joined hands in forming a human chain.

Kushwaha, who is also the national president of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), an alliance partner in the BJP-led NDA, had given a call for forming a human chain to highlight the need to bring about rapid improvement in the education scenario in Bihar.

The main event of the human chain took place at Miller School ground in the state capital on Tuesday where RJD national vice president Shivanand Tiwary and Bihar RJD chief Ram Chandra Purve joined hands with Kushwaha, showing solidarity with the RLSP leader.

The move assumes significance as it comes a day after senior JD(U) leader and former Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary met Lalu Prasad in Ranchi on Monday.

Choudhary, who presided over the House in Bihar from 2005 to 2015, is a  Dalit leader and reportedly unhappy with Nitish.

The same day Samajwadi Party chief of the Bihar unit Devendra Yadav also met Lalu at Hotwar (in Ranchi) where the RJD chief is cooling his heels at the Birsa Munda Jail.

"Contrary to general perception that Lalu after being jailed is a spent force, there is a swelling support for the RJD chief in rural areas. Very soon, there will be mass exodus among the NDA allies. Most of them, including Upendra Kushwaha and HAM president Jitan Ram Manjhi, who are feeling suffocated in the BJP camp, will join our bandwagon," claimed another RJD vice president and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

Though Manjhi denied any such move, Kushwaha on Tuesday thanked RJD leaders for their support.

The BJP, the JD (U) and the LJP, all NDA allies, however, skipped the event giving credence to the theory that political churning in Bihar has begun.

"There was no need for the human chain event today. Kushwaha is HRD minister. He should have simply told us what steps should be taken to improve education scenario in Bihar," said Krishnandan Verma, Education Minister in the Nitish Cabinet.