RCP Singh: Nitish's right hand man and trouble shooter par-excellence

After 18 years in politics, RCP Singh's political reflexes were appropriately acuminated for him to know it was not the time to sulk or carp

In September 2018, when Nitish Kumar, Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), president, formally inducted Prashant Kishor into his party, one person looked visibly discomfited. He was Ramchandra Prasad Singh — RCP to friends and colleagues — who is regarded as Nitish’s second self, a person supposedly so proficient in second-guessing his leader’s thinking that one word from the reticent Singh can uncover a game-plan. 

Kishor — an independent political consultant who made his mark as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s principal strategist in 2014 — was appointed JD(U) vice-president, which notionally placed him a notch above Singh