PATNA: The newly formed national executive committee of RJD has ensured jailed party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wife and fellow former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi’s elevation as national vice-president and included the couple’s three politically active children as members of the committee.
In the reshuffle that was approved by Yadav from jail in Ranchi, where he is currently lodged following his conviction in two fodder scam cases, jailed former MP Mohammad Shahabuddin was dropped from the national executive committee. But the criminal-turned-politician’s wife, Hina Shahab, was named as a member of the committee. Shahabuddin, sentenced to life in a double murder case of 2004, is facing trial for a journalist’s murder in May 2016.
Rabri Devi, who used to be a national executive member of RJD, was on Wednesday named as one of five national vice-presidents of the party. With Lalu lodged in jail in Ranchi following his conviction in two fodder scam cases, the elevation will now allow her to formally take important decisions within the party, said party sources.
The four other national vice-presidents of RJD are Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shivanand Tiwari, Mangnilal Mandal and Mohammad Ilyas Hussain.
The embattled regional party named Lalu and Rabri’s three children – eldest daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti, Bihar Opposition leader Tejaswi Yadav and former health minister Tej Pratap Yadav – as national executive members. In another major change, the party also dropped Rajya Sabha member Premchand Gupta from the post of treasurer.
RJD’s ally Congress congratulated Rabri Devi on her elevation within the party hierarchy, but the reshuffle was criticised by Bihar’s ruling JD(U) and BJP.
“Dropping Shahabuddin and including his wife is a mere cosmetic change. If Shahabuddin was dropped because he is convicted and undergoing a jail term, when will RJD replace Lalu Prasad Yadav as the party chief?” asked BJP leader Rameshwar Chaurasia.
JD(U) dubbed RJD as a “family business party” because five members of the Lalu family are in top positions of the party. “It is time RJD was renamed as Lalu Family Business Party. This reshuffle shows how the family, which faces several corruption charges, is desperately trying to save a sinking party,” said JD(U) spokesperson and MLC Sanjay Singh.