Patna, Oct. 2: The RJD today said it was hurt by the impression that the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers was brought to shield Lalu Prasad, but pledged not to withdraw support to the UPA-II or rock the boat of the Jharkhand government.

“It is an internal matter of the Congress and the UPA and we have nothing to do with it (withdrawal of the ordinance),” RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told PTI.

Asked if the RJD would withdraw its outside support to UPA-II in the event of the withdrawal of the ordinance, Singh said: “What is our hashiyat (strength)? We are at present only a four-member party. We are supporting UPA from outside to safeguard secularism, so why shall we back out from it?”        

Singh, who returned to the national capital after staying in Ranchi for the past three days in the wake of a CBI court pronouncing Lalu guilty in a fodder scam case and sending him to jail, said: “We strongly criticise the impression that the ordinance was brought to save the RJD president. We fought against the Congress in Bihar in the last parliamentary and Assembly elections. So, why shall we expect any help from them?” Singh, tipped to take over as the RJD parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha in the event of disqualification of Lalu Prasad, said.        

With Lalu lodged in a jail in Jharkhand, supporting the Congress at the Centre has become more of a compulsion than an inclination for the RJD.

“Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on the ordinance aimed at giving relief to convicted politicians and the manner in which the Union government withdrew it indicate that the Congress is a divided house and that the Prime Minister is a rubber stamp of the Gandhi family. It also leaves little to imagination whom the Congress prefers as an ally in Bihar,” said a national office-bearer of the party, stressing that the time had come for the party to change its stance and maintain equal distance from the Congress and the BJP.

“There is a perception that while Sonia Gandhi, Digvijay Singh and a few senior leaders of the Congress are in favour of an alliance with RJD-LJP in the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul and leaders like Jairam Ramesh are strongly advocating an alliance with the JD(U). The tilt towards Nitish Kumar has been so pronounced that it looks ridiculous for the party to speak in favour of the Congress,” the RJD leader said.

The conviction of Lalu, however, appears to have made the party rethink its strategy. “There is no strain between the RJD and the Congress. We shall continue to support the Congress at the Centre and we have an alliance with the Congress and the JMM in Jharkhand, which is also not under threat,” said RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav.

A party leader, however, said it was a temporary retreat.