Rashtriya Janata Dal’s national vice-president and former MP Shivanand Tiwary, apparently sidelined in the party, took to Facebook on Tuesday to announce that he was taking “leave” from his present responsibilities in the party to write a memoir.
“I am feeling tired and mentally exhausted. I want to write a memoir but I do not know whether I will be able to do it. I will try. This is why I am taking leave from the responsibilities I am discharging in the party,” tiwary wrote in his post.
In recent months, Tiwary had advocated the need for bringing JD(U), a party he was in before he joined RJD, back into the grand alliance, a proposition shot down curtly by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. Tiwary also had taken potshots at Tejashwi after the Lok Sabha poll drubbing, saying the Yadav scion needed to “interact with people more and understand peoples’ issues by going to the grass roots”.
But the former Rajya Sabha member, who was considered close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad, denied he had quit the party. “ Hum chutthi liye hain. Hum istifa ka baat nahin bole hai (I have only taken leave. I have not talked of quitting or resigning),” he said, while talking to HT.
Insiders in the Grand Alliance said the former MP had nursed hopes of going to Rajya Sabha but was denied a ticket by the party last year.
Others say Tiwary’s latest move to distance himself from the party could be a ploy to apply pressure on Tejashwi and the jailed RJD chief to give him some important assignment in the party so that he could have more powers within the party’s framework.
Speculation is rife the former MP might switch back to the ruling Janata Dal ( United) in the coming days after formally quitting the RJD.
In the past, Tiwary has represented JD(U) in the Rajya Sabha from 2008 to 2014 . Later, the JD(U) had expelled him for his “anti-party” activities.
