JD(U) inducts former RLSP leader who spearheaded agitation against caste-based quota system

PATNA: For JD(U) workers, contrast could not have been starker. At a time when Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has repeatedly been stating that no one on this earth has power to end the existing caste based reservation system for members of SC/ST communities in the country, his party JD(U) on Wednesday inducted a person who is known for spearheading an agitation against the existing quota system.
Former RLSP leader and Rashtrawadi Jan Congress (RJC) national president Shambhu Nath Sinha who had been opposing the caste-based quota system and favouring reservation on economical ground, was inducted in the party by the JD(U) state president Bashishtha Narain Singh during a function organised at the JD(U)’s state office here.
Sinha, along with hundreds of his supporters, reached the JD(U) office with a band party this afternoon and announced merger of his RJC in the JD(U). Singh inducted Sinha in the JD(U) by offering him the party membership.
While talking to reporters at Barahia (Lakhisarai) in April this year, Sinha had demanded review of the current reservation system. He also said that reservation should be on the basis of poverty and not caste. Sinha had also said that influential people like CM Nitish Kumar, union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, union minister Upendra Kushwaha and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi should not be allowed to get benefits of the caste-based quota system.
Sinha, also known for frequently changing political parties, had launched the RJC in 2015 after being suspended from Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP).
The RLSP suspended him from all party posts in September 2015 for opposing the caste based quota system. After that Sinha launched the RJC to spearhead an agitation to oppose caste-based quota system and demand reservation for poor among the upper castes on economical ground.
Prior to joining the RLSP in March 2014, Sinha was in the Congress. He had joined Congress in the presence of then State Congress chief Ashok Choudhary on June 13, 2014 after deserting the JD(U). but he could not remain with the Congress even for nine months.
Sinha, who was also a general secretary and spokesperson in the JD(U) in between 2008 to 2013, left Nitish Kumar’s party after his difference with the CM on demand of a CBI probe into the murder of banned outfit Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Mukhia at Ara. Mukhiya was shot dead on June 1, 2012.
Before JD(U), Sinha was state general secretary and spokesperson of Congress in between 2000 to 2008. Prior to that, Sinha was the state general secretary of the Samata Party in between 1996 to 2000.
“It is the second time Sinha has joined the JD(U). Now only time will tell how many days he remains with the party. Earlier too, he had left the party after his differences with Nitish Kumar,” a JD(U) senior told TOI.
Responding to a query from TOI, Sambhu Nath Sinha said that he had not joined the JD(U) to seek party symbol for either Lok Sabha or the 2020 assembly election. “I met Nitish Jee nearly 10 days ago and offered him to utilise my services in the party in which way the CM desires,” Sinha told TOI.