Another Rahul ‘Pal’ RPN Singh quits Congress, joins BJP; likely to contest against SP Maurya

Congress insiders said RPN Singh’s exit was expected. At a CWC meeting last year, Singh countered Gandhi by saying repeated personal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi were counterproductive, while referring to Gandhi’s ‘chowkidar chor hai’ narrative against the PM which failed. ET had reported the CWC exchange which many in Congress saw was the first sign of rift in their ties.

Singh had not been attending party meetings in the last few weeks and his work in Jharkhand as AICC in-charge was under a cloud. After Singh quit, Congress Barkagaon MLA Amba Prasad alleged that Singh had been trying to topple the JMM-Congress government for a year. “The party leadership was cautioned about this. Every true Congress member is happy with him going to the BJP,” she tweeted.

Part of the ‘Doon school brigade’ in Congress, along with Jyotiraditya Scindia and Prasada, Singh was elected from Kushinagar in 2009 and made minister of state for home in 2012. He has since never won elections. BJP insiders said Singh was keen on joining the party for months and received the nod of leadership some time back. Singh’s mother Mohini Devi had contested the Padrauna by-polls in November 2009 after he vacated the seat to become MP. She finished third.

Other close associates of Gandhi who have abandoned Congress include Jyotiraditya Scindia, Prasada, Ashok Tanwar, Aditi Singh. Another Gandhi associate Sachin Pilot rebelled in Rajasthan but failed to topple the Ashok Gehlot government. Sushmita Dev joined the AITC to become a Rajya Sabha MP.

Reacting to Singh’s defection, AICC spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “the battle which the Congress party is fighting can be fought only with bravery… It requires courage, strength and Priyanka Gandhi Ji has said that cowards cannot fight it”.