PATNA: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will elect a new president at its national convention of the working committee in New Delhi on October 11, said Abdul Bari Siddiqui, a senior leader of the party.
After a meeting of the national working committee, Siddiqui said the president will be elected at an open session. With this announcement, speculations about party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s younger son Tejashwi taking over as president have been put to rest. Lalu will continue to be the national president till then.
Siddiqui revealed the new working committee and the state chiefs would be announced after the election of the national president. Former chief minister Rabri Devi skipped the meeting. What surprised the participants at Thursday’s meeting was that Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap left the venue when his younger brother Tejashwi was addressing the functionaries.
Relationship between the brothers has turned sour of late. Tej Pratap was the first to contradict rumours that Tejashwi had been elected national president. Earlier, Lalu took a swipe at Narendra Modi, saying that he had not seen such a Prime Minister. The former Bihar chief minister claimed BJP would be routed in the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. “The UP election is significant. It will play a decisive role in national politics,” he added.