On Monday, July 23, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ousted Shankar Charan Tripathi from the party for criticising Congress president Rahul Gandhi. “RJD National spokesperson Shankar Charan Tripathi who spoke against Congress president in his personal capacity on No Confidence Motion day has been expelled from party,” the party took to Twitter to announce.
Rahul Gandhi was seen hugging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was slammed by the National Spokesperson of RJD for later winking, during the no-confidence motion moved by the TDP in Lok Sabha. The Congress is an ally of the RJD in Bihar.
“He has been a parliamentarian for the past 15 years,” Tripathi said, the Telegraph reported. “It was not expected from a leader like him to wink on the floor of the House. So many cameras are installed in the house. Ward and watch people are also there. In such a situation he winked. His act was akin to that of Priya Prakash Varrier, whose act of winking in a clip of the movie Oru Adaar Love propped her to stardom.”
Tripathi, however, said he was making his comment in his personal capacity. “I am a well-wishers of the RJD and if something is wrong I will definitely raise the issue, because I do not want to be party to a sin,” Tripathi said. An astrologer hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Tripathi has given plenty of advice to Lalu and his family.
“Rahul spoke the best, but if something is wrong I will definitely raise it,” Tripathi said. “The entire nation and universe were watching him but he completely ruined it towards the end. His act of hugging the Prime Minister was not polite. Rather it was an extreme act. He should not have done this. His speech was full of anger and hatred and showed up the ruling party as his enemy. How can he then go and hug his enemy?”
In another instance of being expelled from a political party, BSP vice-president Jai Prakash Singh addressed a gathering on July 17 and said, “If Rahul Gandhi had followed his father Rajiv Gandhi’s footsteps, he might had been successful in politics, but he followed his mother, so he is a foreigner. I can assure you that Rahul Gandhi can never succeed in politics.”
Bahujan Samaj Party Mayawati sacked him for his controversial comments against Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Mayawati has extended her support to the grand alliance under the leadership of Congress for the upcoming 2019 General elections, Singh’s comments evidently seemed to have irked the party supremo.