Upendra Kushwaha, who has been seeking more seats for his RLSP from Bihar in the next Lok Sabha elections, today virtually issued an ultimatum to the BJP to resolve the issue of seat-sharing by November 30, following which his party would take a call on its future course of action.

At a press conference after his Rashtriya Lok Samta Party’s (RLSP) state executive meeting, he said that his party has decided to reject the seat offer made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state in-charge Bhupendra Yadav as the number was “less than honourable”. The party, which was given three seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and won all, has been demanding more this time and has objected to the purported “equal number” agreement between the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) for the state’s 40 seats with lesser seats for RLSP and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party.

The party meeting today came after Kushwaha returned from Delhi after an unsuccessful attempt to meet BJP president Amit Shah on Friday.

On the seat-sharing issue, the Union minister said that he made several attempts to meet Amit Shah, but the BJP chief might have been preoccupied. “Now, I am not going to make any effort to meet BJP top leaders except the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in whose cabinet I am a minister,” he said.

Responding to Kushwaha, BJP state vice president Devesh Kumar said the party has always pursued, followed and respected coalition dharma. “ The issue of seat sharing will sorted out amicably among all NDA constituents,” he said, without commenting on whether it would be finalized by November 30, as demanded by Kushwaha.

Meanwhile at the RLSP meeting, the party’s two legislators, Lallan Paswan and Sudhashu Shekhar, were conspicuous by their absence, setting off speculations that they were determined to stay with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) by seeking recognition as a separate entity in the assembly.

Kushwaha, however, said that his party was intact, while accusing chief minister Nitish Kumar of fomenting dissent for breaking it apart.

“I am still in the NDA and such attempts to disintegrate an alliance partner is highly objectionable and does not augur well for democracy,” he said.

At the party meeting, a resolution was passed condemning Nitish Kumar’s ‘Neech” jibe, allegedly at Kushwaha and seeking apology from the JD (U) chief. The party also passed a resolution condemning the police cane charge on Kushwaha community at a demonstration in Patna recently and also slamming the police for not taking action against those responsible.

The RLSP chief is also not willing to tone down his ongoing face off with Nitish Kumar over the latter’s “neech “ remark. “The party has decided to observe (19th century social reformer) Mahatma Phule’s birth anniversary on November 29 as Unch-Neech virod diwas and also start a signature campaign on the deteriorating education system in Bihar,” Kushwaha said.

The party also hit out at the Nitish Kumar government over the alleged deteriorating law and order situation, asking the chief minister to initiate immediate action. It also condemned the recent killings of several RLSP leaders in different parts of the state.

Kushwaha also repeated his allegation that some elements in the state NDA were not keen to see the re-election of Prime Minister Modi for another term, alleging that was why the BJP leadership was being poisoned against him.

He also dismissed claims that his Sitamarhi MP Ram Kumar Sharma had joined the rebel camp in the party. “ See, Sharma is sitting beside me and had attended the party’s meeting today,” he said.

However, the RLSP leader evaded queries on whether he was all set to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress led grand alliance in Bihar due to his rift with the NDA leaders and recent meeting with veteran leader Sharad Yadav.

“Why can’t I meet any politician from different parties. I am nobody’s slave and I take my calls independently,” he said.

Meanwhile, the grand alliance claimed that it was a matter of time that Kushwaha would be joining the coalition. RJD’s chief state spokesperson Bhai Birendra today once again extended invitation to him to join them, promising the RLSP a respectable seat share in the opposition coalition.

First Published: Nov 17, 2018 21:16 IST