Lallan Singh (second from left) , along with Lakhisarai MLA Prem Ranjan Patel, chief minister Nitish Kumar, water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav, at the inauguration of the bridge over the river Keul. Telegraph picture

Patna, May 22: Rebel Janata Dal (United) MP Rajiv Ranjan, better known as Lallan Singh, today returned to the party after serving out a suspension of two-and-half-years, his importance within the organisation underscored by the fact that his homecoming was announced by chief minister Nitish Kumar at his Seva Yatra in Munger.

Nitish’s Seva Yatra, ever since its inception in April 2012, had so far been a purely government affair with the secretaries and ministers concerned attending them. But the chief minister’s decision to bring Lallan back during his Yatra is believed to be indicative of two broad reasons.

First, Nitish’s proclivity to keep his own house in order in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. Second, the importance of Lallan, a close aide of Nitish before he was suspended from the party. Lallan represents Munger seat in the Lok Sabha.

“It is a day of immense pleasure for me that Lallanji is with us again. Misunderstandings are over. It is always pleasant to have an estranged colleague returning home,” Nitish said while inaugurating the newly built 404m bridge on the Keul river linking the Samho diara with Suryagarha on National Highway 80, around 200km from Patna.

Asked about the status of Lallan’s suspension from the party, state JD(U) chief Basishtha Narayan Singh told The Telegraph: “The process to revoke his suspension is in progress. It is pleasant to find Lallan finding his own home most comfortable and liveable. He is an old party hand, and thus, has his right over it.”

Lallan was suspended from the party for publicly criticising the chief minister during the Assembly poll campaign in 2010. Before the rift, the Munger MP was considered the second-in-command in the JD(U).

As a sign of the rapprochement, Lallan today boarded the helicopter with Nitish, water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav at 10.30am for the Seva Yatra to Samho diara, Lakhisarai and other parts of Munger district.

Besides Lallan’s induction, the Seva Yatra was significant for the inauguration of the bridge over the Keul, built at a cost of Rs 28.06 crore, which will now link the inaccessible Samho diara — home to illegal gun factories, Naxalites and anti-socials — with Suryagarha on NH-80.

“We are trying to complete the construction of the bridges on the Ganga from Digha to Sonepur and in Munger district by 2014. These bridges had been approved when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister,” Nitish said. “The work on the Rs 1,600-crore Bakhtiyarpur to Tajpur mahasetu on the Ganga is also in progress.”

Sources said the Keul bridge would herald a change in the socio-economic life of the people in the largely backward region, whose illegal gun factories supply arms to insurgents and extremists in various parts of India, including the Northeast, and even Nepal. The bridge, the sources pointed out, would make it easier for the security forces to reach the Samho diara.

Today’s yatra was also the first during the current phase when a BJP minister (Nand Kishore Yadav) accompanied Nitish.