Former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, whose recent resignation from Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD has left political waters in Bihar astir, passed away on Sunday. He had fallen critically ill, was admitted at AIIMS and put on a ventilator after developing post-COVID complications.
Singh had resigned from the primary membership of the party on Thursday and followed it up with an open letter, a day later, addressed to Prasad's arch rival and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, triggering speculations about his future moves.
A staunch loyalist of the RJD supremo whom he supported in thick and thin, Singh ran afoul with the party a few months ago when murmurs about mafia don turned politician Rama Singh, his rival in Vaishali Lok Sabha constituency, led him to resign from the post of the national vice president.
A cabinet colleague of Prasad in the Manmohan Singh government, Singh thereby stymied Rama Singh's entry into the party and although he did not give up the primary membership at that time, he stayed away from the RJD's day to day affairs which was attributed, in part, to his ill-health.
On Thursday, his hand-written note addressed to Prasad declaring that he has had enough went viral on the social media. On the same day, the RJD supremo sent a letter to Singh from Ranchi, making an emotional appeal to his companion for over three decades not to leave the party.
-Inputs from PTI