Upendra Kushwaha slams BJP, CM Nitish Kumar; may call on Rahul Gandhi

PATNA/MOTIHARI: Contrary to speculations that Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha would make his stand clear on the party’s continuance in NDA at Thursday’s Motihari rally, the Union minister kept political circles guessing by keeping mum on the issue.

He, however, said change was necessary and his party would work to ensure defeat of the Nitish Kumar government in the state in the next assembly election.

If sources are to be believed, Kushwaha might meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on December 10 before making an announcement regarding his future course of action. RLSP national vice-president and former MP Nagmani is already camping in Delhi to seek Rahul’s appointment. Incidentally, RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is also scheduled to visit Delhi on December 10.

At Motihari, Kushwaha said he had been empowered by his party’s executive committee to decide whether to continue in the NDA or quit it. He made a scathing attack on the BJP over the issue of Ram temple construction at Ayodhya, saying political parties should not meddle in such matters. He called upon the people of the state to defeat the BJP-JD(U) government in the state in the next assembly election.

“The NDA government in state has failed on all fronts. It has destroyed the education system in the state. Students from poor families are deprived of proper education,” Kushwaha said.

Terming the BJP as ‘Bihar Jumla Party’, he said the saffron party has become the ‘B team’ of the JD(U) in the state and surrendered before Nitish.

He alleged that crime, corruption and communalism were at their peak in the state. Kushwaha raised the multi-crore Srijan scam and the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal issues to train his guns on Nitish.