Patna, (Bihar Times) : He rose from the panchayat-level
politics to the minister in the Union cabinet. This is
the best introduction of the new minister of state for
Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Raghunath
Jha, who has the distinction of being elected MLA for
26 years without break.
The man, who entered politics in 1960s as a Socialist,
had served several political parties. At present he is
considered as the Brahmin face of RJD in the Lok
Sabha.
The 69-year old Jha left the Socialist Party and
joined Congress in 1972 and represented Seohar
assembly seat in the Bihar assembly in the election
held that year. Thereafter he joined the Janata Party,
Janatda Dal, Samajwadi Janata Party, then again the
Janaata Dal (and then the RJD after its formation in
1997), Samata Party, which subsequently became the
Janata Dal (United). Finally he again jumped the Lalu
bandwagon.
He represented Seohar in 1972, 1977 and 1980 on
Congress ticket. In 1980 he became a minister in the
then Jagannath Mishra ministry. But as he was a
prominent dissident in mid-1980s and stood behind
Jagannath Mishra who was succeeded as the chief
minister by Bindeshwari Dubey, he was denied
re-nomination from Sheohar by the Congress high
command.
However, he then switched side and joined hands with
the former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar. He got
ticket from the latter’s Janata Party and won from
Sheohar assembly seat for the fourth consecutive time.
Jha became the state president of the newly formed
Janata Dal after the merger of V P Singh’s Jan Morcha,
Janata Party and Lok Dal of Devi Lal in Bangalore in
1988.
However, after the 1989 Lok Sabha election, which
brought V P Singh to power, he sided with
Chandrashekhar. In the assembly election held three
months later the janata Dal in alliance with the Left
parties came to power. Along with Lalu Yadav and Ram
Sundar Das he too threw his hat in the contest for the
post of chief minister. Lalu became the chief minister
on March 10, 1990 and made Raghunath Jha minister of
agriculture, land and revenue and parliamentary
affair.
However, later the same year when the Janata Dal split
he resigned and joined Chandrashekar’s Samajwadi
Janata Party. The latter with the help of Congress
became the Prime Minister of the country. But some
times after Chandrashekhar’s decline he left his party
to rejoin Lalu Yadav’s cabinet. He firmly stood loyal
to him throughout the worst crisis of the party. When
Rabri Devi became the chief minister and Lalu Yadav
had to go to jail, he as the parliamentary affairs
minister, used to stoutly defend the party supreme.
However, as the saying goes, old habits die hard, Jha
quit Lalu’s Rashtriya Janata Dal on the eve of 1998
parliamentary election. The excuse was that he was
denied ticket for Lok Sabha. However, in 1999 he got
the Samata Party ticket and for five years served as
the member of Parliament. But once again at the fag
end of the tenure he re-joined the RJD. Lalu gave him
ticket and he won in 2004. Four years later he is a
minister of state. As a political heavyweight and
physically strong person he got the portfolio of
minister of state for Heavy Industries and Public
Enterprises.
