Former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh dies at 74

Raghuvansh Prasad was often called the architect of the MNREGA scheme, which was floated when he was the Union minister for rural development.

Former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh died on Sunday due to post-Covid complications. He was 74. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh died around 11 am due to breathlessness and other complications, said Kedar Yadav, a close aide of the septuagenarian.

Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's body will be brought to Patna for performance of the last rites, the aide said. Singh had fallen critically ill late Friday night and was put on a ventilator in ICU in the AIIMS, Yadav added.

Earlier in June he had tested positive for Covid and was admitted at AIIMS Patna. He was taken to AIIMS in the national capital recently following post Covid complications.

Several leaders offered their condolences after Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's death. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s demise has left a void in the political sphere of Bihar as well as the country.”

"The passing away of Raghuvansh Prasad Singh is tragic. An outstanding leader rooted to the ground, he was a true stalwart with a phenomenal understanding of rural India. Condolences to his family and followers," said President Ram Nath Kovind.

"Passing away of Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has left us alone. I had met him recently at AIIMS, Delhi where he was admitted. We were in regular contact with the doctors who were treating him, they told us that he was suffering from lung cancer," RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said.

Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s recent resignation from the RJD, founded and headed by Lalu Prasad, left political waters in Bihar astir.

Singh resigned from the primary membership of the party on Thursday and followed it up with an open letter, a day later, addressed to Prasad's arch rival and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, triggering speculations about his future moves.

A staunch loyalist of the RJD supremo whom he supported in thick and thin, Singh ran afoul with the party a few months ago when murmurs about mafia don turned politician Rama Singh, his rival in Vaishali Lok Sabha constituency, led him to resign from the post of the national vice-president.

A cabinet colleague of Prasad in the Manmohan Singh government, Singh thereby stymied Rama Singhs entry into the party and although he did not give up the primary membership at that time, he stayed away from the RJDs day to day affairs which was attributed, in part, to his ill-health.

On Thursday, his hand-written note addressed to Prasad declaring that he has had enough went viral on the social media.

On the same day, the RJD supremo sent a letter to Singh from Ranchi, making an emotional appeal to his companion for over three decades not to leave the party.

On Friday, Singh wrote another letter from hospital, this time addressed to Nitish Kumar, which was seen as his attempt to cosy up to the chief minister, who heads the JD(U) and has been a fierce rival of the RJD supremo for decades.

Often called the architect of the MNREGA scheme, which was floated when he was the Union minister for rural development, Singh has been in political wilderness for some time, having lost two consecutive elections in 2014 and 2019 from Vaishali which he has represented in the Lok Sabha a record five times.

His relations with Tejashwi Yadav, younger son and apparent heir of Lalu Prasad, turned sour when he started pitching for Nitish Kumar back to the Grand Alliance helmed by the RJD, after the party received its worst-ever drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls last year.

The JD(U) is said to be keen to win over Singh, a highly respected Rajput leader, in the run up to the assembly elections, and speculations have been rife that it is mooting a legislative council berth for the former Union minister’s son.