Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) Chief Upendra Kushwaha has resigned today as Minister of State for Human Resource Development. This came after Kushwaha had said that he would not participate in a meeting of the ruling BJP and its allies in Delhi ahead of the winter session of the Parliament. As per latest reports, Kushwaha has announced that he has quit NDA too.
According to reports, there were speculations that RLSP Chief Kushwaha was ready to quit National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition anytime. The resignation of Upendra Kushwaha from the NDA government comes in the wake of the continuing deadlock between his RLSP and the BJP over the seat sharing in Bihar.
Kushwaha had recently had urged the NDA to come up with a “respectable” seat-sharing formula by November 30. The Rashtriya Lok Shakti Party chief will hold a press conference in Delhi in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the BJP has joined hands with Nitish Kumar’s JDU in Bihar ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP and JD (U) coalition had decided to contest on an equal number of 17 seats each in Bihar in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP was given two seats, one less than in 2014 to contest from the NDA coalition in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections
Upendra Kushwaha, who was once in Janata Dal (United) had come out of the party in 2013 to set up Rashtriya Lok Samata Party.
He had joined the NDA Coalition during 2014 Lok Sabha elections and contested three seats from Bihar’s Sitamarhi, Karakat and Jahanabad, winning all three. Upendra Kushwaha had won from Karakat Loksabha seat, a Kushwaha caste dominated constituency in Bihar. The Jahanabad MP, Arun Kumar, was suspended from RLSP in 2016.
After his ouster from the NDA, Kushwaha is expected to enter into an alliance with RJD and Congress ahead of the 2019 polls.
