PATNA: Upbeat after bypoll victory in two out of three constituencies in the state, RJD claimed on Thursday that Union minister and RLSP chief
Upendra Kushwaha would soon quit the BJP-led NDA and join the Grand Alliance (GA), like HAM(S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi did.
RJD’s Maner MLA Bhai Virendra said Kushwaha would join the GA this month only. RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son
Tej Pratap Yadav also claimed many JD(U) MLAs were in talks with his party.
“There is chaos in NDA. Talks have been held with Kushwaha and he is sure to join us. In fact, he may even join this month (March) only,” Virendra told newsmen on the assembly premises, adding, “The bypoll results are an expression of public resentment against CM Nitish Kumar, who betrayed the mandate by walking out of the Grand Alliance with RJD and
Congress.”
Virendra’s claim was seconded by RJD national vice-president
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh as well. “Kushwaha is unhappy in NDA. His discontentment was evident in the human chain formed by his party in January for educational reforms in
Bihar, even though Nitish-led government in the state held another human chain earlier on the issues of child marriage and dowry. What is the meaning of holding a human chain against the work of his own government,” Raghuvansh asked.
Once considered close to Nitish, Kushwaha had formed RLSP in 2013. Sources said Kushwaha started feeling uncomfortable in the NDA ever since JD(U) rejoined it and formed government in July last year.
The Union minister, however, refuted the RJD claims. “I am firmly with the NDA,” Kushwaha said and added: “The byelection results in Bihar do not indicate any danger sign for NDA. The candidates won on obvious voting pattern. The victory of RJD in Jehanabad assembly segment was due to sympathy factor.”
Meanwhile, leader of the opposition in assembly
Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has demanded CM Nitish’s resignation over the ruling coalition’s defeat in
Araria parliamentary and Jehanabad assembly constituencies. “The voters have rejected the ‘double engine’ governments of NDA at the Centre and in Bihar. Hence, Nitish should resign,”
Tejashwi said.
