The Bihar Opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal on Wednesday dropped former party MP and strongman Mohd. Shahabuddin from its newly constituted national executive committee, but included his wife Hena Shahab in it.
Lalu Prasad will continue to be party president, while his wife Rabri Devi, two sons and elder daughter are included in the committee prompting the ruling JD(U) to remark that the RJD should now be renamed as “Lalu Prasad Yadav Party.”
Lost twice
Shahabuddin is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail in connection with a double murder case.
Hena Shahab had earlier contested the Parliamentary poll from Siwan as RJD candidate in 2009 and 2014 but lost both times. In April 2016 the name of Shahbuddin in the RJD national executive committee list had raised eyebrows and invited criticism from the BJP leaders.
Four members of Mr. Lalu Prasad’s family, his wife Rabri Devi, elder daughter Misa Bharti and two sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav have been included in the new committee. Ms. Rabri Devi is among five of party’s new national vice-presidents. Besides, the name of noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani, Prem Chand Gupta, a close aide of Mr. Lalu Prasad and Bhola Yadav, Lalu’s Man Friday too figure in the national executive committee as members.
