Rashtriya Lok Samata Party may dump NDA ‘very soon’ in Bihar

Patna: After fairing badly in the recent by-elections in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar appears headed for another disaster if one goes by the claim of principal opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The RJD on Thursday claimed that the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), headed by federal minister Upendra Kushwaha would dump the NDA very soon to join the Grand Alliance. Kushwaha who represents Karakat seat from Bihar in Lok Sabha is currently a federal minister of state for human resources department in the Narendra Modi government. “We have talks with Upendra Kushwaha and a final decision will be taken very soon,” a senior RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav told the media on Thursday, further heating up the political scene in Bihar. Yadav is a son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

If Kushwaha’s party walks out of the NDA, this will be the second biggest setback for the BJP in the past one fortnight. Last month, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) headed by former chief minister Jitan Ram Manji had severed its ties with the NDA, dealing a massive blow to the ruling national alliance ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls due early next year.

Manjhi whose party fought the last 2015 Bihar assembly polls in alliance with the BJP made the announcement to join the Grand Alliance after meeting Tejashwi Yadav.

Yadav’s claim was corroborated by RJD spokesperson Bhai Birendra who said Kushwaha was in constant touch with the RJD and would dump the NDA very soon. “Kushwaha will join our Grand Alliance this month itself,” Birendra asserted.

As per reports, the RLSP chief is annoyed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after not getting the kind of “respect” he deserved and his frequent neglect in the NDA.

The annoyance has grown up after the BJP asked the Janata Dal United (JD-U),led by chief minister Nitish Kumar, to contest the Jehanabad seat which it lost badly in the by-elections results of which were declared on Wednesday.

The reason of his annoyance was that that the RLSP had staked a claim over this seat but this was eventually gifted to the JD-U which initially had announced not to contest the by-elections.

Earlier in January this year, all the NDA allies had boycotted the human chain formation programme organised by RLSP in Bihar to seek for academic reforms. Kushawah had appealed to all political parties to support the programme saying it is a social issue concerning all. He had particularly urged the ruling JD-U to support it and even reminded how his party had wholeheartedly supported the human chain programme of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar against dowry and child marriages. Yet all NDA allies stayed away from his programme.

Experts say Kushwaha doesn’t find his career secure in the company of Nitish Kumar who earlier had forced him to resign as JD-U’s Rajya Sabha Member when he criticised the chief minister. Besides not getting due respect in the NDA, Kushwaha is also said to be not hopeful of getting not many good seats to contest both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections with too many partners already there in the NDA.

Manjhi whose party fought the last 2015 Bihar assembly polls in alliance with the BJP made the announcement to join the Grand Alliance after meeting senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, former deputy chief minister of Bihar.

As per reports, Manjhi wanted a gubernatorial post for himself or at least secure his berth in the Rajya Sabha but as the wait got a longer, he eventually quit the NDA last month. He was also unhappy after his party was not allotted the Jehanabad seat to contest. The seat was offered to the JD-U.