Patna: On Sunday, Senior Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi stepped down from his position as the party's national spokesperson, citing "personal reasons" in his resignation letter. The JD(U), which governs Bihar under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has announced that Rajiv Ranjan Prasad will replace Tyagi as the new national spokesperson, according to party general secretary Afaq Ahmed Khan.
Despite Tyagi's stated reasons, party insiders suggest that his resignation was influenced by the leadership's dissatisfaction with his recent public statements on several contentious issues. These included his remarks on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the lateral entry controversy, which reportedly deviated from the party's official stance.
Tyagi had urged the Indian government to halt arms supplies to Israel and emphasized India's support for peace and a ceasefire in Gaza, a position that party leaders felt was not aligned with JD(U)'s broader policy. His comments regarding the Supreme Court's decision on SC/ST quotas and the lateral recruitment of officials by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) were also made without prior consultation with the party, according to sources.
The 73-year-old Tyagi, who previously served as a Rajya Sabha MP from 2013 to 2016 and as a Lok Sabha member from 1989 to 1991 representing the Hapur constituency, has often been perceived as voicing his personal opinions rather than the party's official line. His stance on a caste-based census, a key demand of the INDIA bloc, and his criticism of the UPSC's lateral recruitment process further fueled tensions within the party, ultimately leading to his resignation.
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