From being a bureaucrat, a politician and now finally a minister, the meteoric rise of Ram Chandra Prasad Singh's political career began when he came in proximity of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar바카라s attention.
Impressed by Singh바카라s abilities, Kumar borrowed him from the UP cadre and appointed him as his principal secretary after becoming the chief minister of Bihar.
Hailing from Nalanda district and belonging to the Kurmi caste, RCP, as he is often known, took oath of office as Union Cabinet minister on Wednesday. He entered Kumar바카라s good books in the late 1990s when the then Samata Party leader was the Union Railway minister and the Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer was on a central deputation.
However, Kumar seemed to have bigger plans for the 63-year-old Singh, who made his political debut in 2010, getting elected to the Rajya Sabha on a JD(U) ticket after taking premature retirement from the civil service.
Though not seen as a mass leader, Singh was given the key party post of national general secretary (organization) which he held till his elevation as the national president earlier this year, when Kumar relinquished the top post.
Seen as a man of few words, the diminutive Singh demonstrated that he was in tune with what was going on in the mind of his boss when he stoutly defended the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, which was being vehemently opposed by the then JD(U) national vice president Prashant Kishor who was ultimately expelled.
The father of Lipi Singh, a young and dynamic Bihar cadre IPS officer who has won laurels for her crackdowns on some of the state바카라s most dreaded criminals, RCP was understood to have been hopeful of his induction in the Union cabinet soon after the Lok Sabha polls of 2019.
However, BJP 바카라 which was on cloud nine after securing a thumping majority on its own 바카라 insisted that all allies should settle for a 바카라token representation바카라. This left Nitish Kumar slighted, and the wily politician declared that the JD(U) shall not join the government.
The loss of trusted allies like Shiv Sena in recent past and the realisation that in the caste-dominated politics of Bihar, BJP cannot do without Nitish Kumar, forced BJP to finally give Singh and the JD(U) their honourable due.
