From backroom boy to JD(U) president: RCP Singh's political journey

RCP Singh is unlikely to be more than just a go-between. Maybe the JD(U) will take on a new orientation with RCP in charge

Could RCP Singh have been an unwitting beneficiary of another erstwhile colleague and political executive, Prashant Kishor?

RCP, as he is popularly known, was made president of the Janata Dal (United) last month. Many IAS officers have left the service and joined politics. Many have become senior ministers. But he is likely the only retired IAS officer to have become the president of a major political party. His rise and rise is an interesting tale and could serve as a model for others aspiring to join politics after a career in the bureaucracy.

RCP left the IAS (he was from the UP cadre) in 2010 prematurely and joined politics. This was not a wild plunge in the dark. It was Uttar Pradesh socialist leader Beni Prasad Verma who introduced Nitish to RCP. Having been at JNU and later joining the IAS, RCP might have been the model Bihari, especially as he was from the same Kurmi caste as Nitish Kumar, belonged to Nalanda, also Nitish Kumar’s district, and was socially disadvantaged but defied the odds to reach where he did. When Kumar became the railways and agriculture minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, RCP joined him in the ministry. When Kumar eventually became chief minister in 2005, RCP moved to Patna as the CM’s principal secretary.

When he quit the IAS in 2010, he became a Rajya Sabha MP almost immediately. In Patna, he was already known as the go-to man when the Kumar administration needed to be prodded into doing something. In Delhi, as the person handling JD(U) line and strategy, he came into contact with other political leaders, especially from the BJP. In 2016, when he was given a second term as Rajya Sabha MP and also made the leader of the party, it seemed that he had become an important pole of power in the party. However, to this day, it is hard to find an interview or an on the record interaction between RCP Singh and a reporter, testifying to his low-key engagement: He obviously preferred to be a backroom boy.

But in Patna, a miracle-maker had come into town. His name was Prashant Kishor.

That there should be friction between RCP and Kishor — himself, a cosmopolitan architect of elections — was inevitable. Kishor managed and reported success for the JD(U) in the 2015 assembly elections. That the success might have been for other reasons is another matter.

Kishor became a primary member of the JD(U) in September 2018, and was appointed national vice-president of the party in the space of weeks. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections were round the corner. So was the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB, which became an Act later with the support of the JD(U)).

Kishor believed the CAB (which later became an Act) went against the ideological and electoral grain of the JD(U). He said so openly. But RCP had a different job. He had to manage the relationship between the JD(U) and BJP. When Kishor gave vent to his reservations about the Citizenship Act, RCP couldn’t contain himself. He said: “Who are these people? What is their contribution to the organisational structure? How many new members have they made?”

It was Kishor who had to blink when Nitish Kumar presented him with a pink slip. Kishor’s tweet made no secret of the fact that it was RCP who had engineered his exit. “Nitish Kumar, what a fall for you to lie about how and why you made me join JD(U)!! Poor attempt on your part to try and make my colour same as yours! And if you are telling the truth who would believe that you still have courage not to listen to someone recommended by Amit Shah (sic),” He said. Then indication was the RCP was an agent of Amit Shah.

While this is certainly not true, the breach was complete. Kishor left the JD(U). And RCP went on from strength to strength.

What happens now? RCP Singh is the president of the JD(U). What does that mean? He is unlikely to be more than just a go-between. Maybe, the JD(U) will take on a new orientation with RCP in charge. But certainly, it is a new beginning for both: The party and the man.