“Expect To Contest Assembly Polls From…”: Shyam Rajak Returns To JDU

Shyam Rajak, a former Minister in the Bihar government and veteran politician, marked a return to Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) on Sunday.

He was welcomed back into the JD (U) fold by the party’s Working National President Sanjay Kumar Jha.

This marks Mr Rajak’s ‘second innings’ with JDU, as he has previously served the JD(U) before switching sides to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), some years ago.

After joining the ruling JD(U), he told media persons, “I expect to contest Assembly elections from Phulwari Sharif in 2025 polls, an opportunity which he was deprived of during his association with Lalu Yadav-led RJD in the 2020 Assembly elections.

Mr Rajak resigned as the RJD National General Secretary and also quit the party on August 22 this year. Today marks his homecoming into the JD(U).

Shyam Rajak had started his decades-long political career with the RJD, however, years later switched over to JD(U).

He rejoined RJD just before the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, hoping to contest from the Phulwari Sharif Assembly seat but he was denied a chance.

Despite his stature in RJD, the Phulwari Sharif seat was allocated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPI-ML) as part of a seat-sharing arrangement within the INDIA bloc alliance. Gopal Ravidas was declared as INDIA bloc candidate from the seat and the latter also won the Assembly election.

This left him feeling “cheated and dejected”.

Shyam Rajak resigned from RJD on August 22 this year and declared his next political innings with JD(U).

“I remember Chandra Shekhar ji’s words. He always advocated for keeping the last person in the row as the focal point in any decision-making. Such an approach will never fail you and will always guide you in the right direction,” said Shyam Rajak, a day before joining Bihar’s ruling party.

His ‘homecoming’ also comes a day when senior leader KC Tyagi tendered his resignation as JD(U) National Spokesperson. His sudden exit from the position has fuelled murmurs of ‘fresh differences’ within the party, however, the senior leader ascribed his ‘age factor’ as the reason behind quitting the post.