In a setback to Bihar’s main opposition RJD ahead of the State Assembly polls, its national Vice-President and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh resigned from the party on Thursday, sources close to him said.

In a letter to jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, the veteran leader wrote he was quitting the party.

“Since the death of Jannayak Karpoori Thakur, I stood behind you for 32 years, but not now,” he said in his brief one-line resignation letter, written from his hospital bed on a ruled notebook page, to Prasad, who is serving sentences in four fodder scam cases in Ranchi.

In the footnote, the once staunch lalu loyalist, added, “I got the affection of party leaders and workers, besides common people. Please forgive me.”

Thakur was a prominent socialist leader and former chief minister.

Singh, admitted to AIIMS, New Delhi, because of post-covid complications, had earlier announced his resignation as the party Vice-President on June 23 but was persuaded by Prasad to stay back. A five-time former MP from Vaishali who held several portfolios in the Manmohan Singh government, including that of rural development, was reportedly unhappy over the proposed induction of alleged mafia don and former Lok Janshakti Party MP from Vaishali, Rama Singh into the RJD.

Rama Singh had defeated the RJD leader in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, breaking his winning streak since he was first elected from there in 1996.

He was also not happy with the style of functioning of Prasad’s heir apparent and leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, party sources said.

There was no official word from the RJD over Singh’s resignation, but NDA parties hailed his move.

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