Patna: With an objective to expand its social base among extremely backward castes (EBCs) before Bihar assembly election, RJD is all set to appoint a prominent EBC leader and former MP, Mangani Lal Mandal, as state's new party president.
Mandal (76) re-joined RJD after quitting Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar`s JD (U) this January. He is a Dhanuk (EBC), which constitutes 2.13 percent of the state`s population. According to the results of Bihar`s caste-based survey, released on October 2, 2023, 36 percent of the state's total population belongs to the EBC category, comprising a total of 112 castes.
Mandal will succeed the outgoing state RJD chief Jagdanand Singh, an upper caste Rajput leader. Singh, one of the most trusted aides of Lalu, has not been attending the party office since long as he also expressed his inability to continue in his position.
Mandal filed his nomination for RJD state president’s post on Saturday in the presence of party supremo Lalu Prasad, Opposition leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and other senior leaders. Since he is the only candidate to have filed nomination for the post of state party president, his election to the post unopposed is a foregone conclusion. A formal announcement about Mandal being appointed as state unit chief will be made at a meeting of the state executive committee of the party to be held on June 19.
Mandal was an MLC from 1986 to 2004 and also served a minister in state cabinet. He got elected as MP from Jhanjharpur Lok Sabha seat in Madhubani district in 2009 on the ticket of JD (U). Though names of other senior RJD leaders, including Alok Kumar Mehta and Ranvijay Sahu were also doing the rounds, Mandal was the front runner for party’s state president for being an EBC and close to RJD’s first family. “He is not only close to Lalu Ji but also to Tejashwi Yadav,” an RJD leader claimed. EBCs are traditionally regarded as core-voters of JD (U) for the past several decades.
In 2011, Patna High Court had set aside the 2009 election of Mandal from Jhanjharpur for hiding information about his first wife in the affidavit filed with his nomination papers. The Supreme Court, however, overruled the verdict of the High Court, upholding Mandal`s election in 2012.
