Upendra Kushwaha may announce split from NDA today

Kushwaha had hinted that the party, which is holding a two-day brainstorming session in Valmikinagar in West Champaran district over the prevailing political situation in the state, would make a “big announcement” on December 5.

Tussle over seat sharing

First signs of a rift between Kushwaha and BJP began after party chief Amit Shah, in a joint press conference with JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, in October announced that both parties would contest an equal number of seats in 2019 elections and smaller allies would have to take a cut in their share to accommodate the new partner.

Rashtriya Lok Samta Party chief Upendra Kushwaha meets former MP and Loktantrik Janta Dal chief Sharad Yadav in Delhi. (Photo: Anil Sharma)

Hours after the announcement, Kushwaha created a stir with his “unscheduled meet” with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav at Arwal in Bihar. Earlier too, he had hinted that all was not well within the ruling coalition with his “kheer” remark. “One can prepare kheer with milk from the Yadavs and rice from the Kushwahas,” he had said.

BJP reportedly offered RLSP two Lok Sabha seats for the 2019 election, but Kushwaha is not ready to settle for anything less than four seats. Since JD(U) and RLSP share a similar social base, Kushwaha has been under pressure in NDA since Nitish Kumar’s return to the alliance. With the BJP showing little sign of intervening in the RLSP-JD(U) divide, a walkout by the RLSP was always around the corner.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA won 31 out of 40 seats in Bihar. The JD(U) which parted ways with the NDA just before the polls could manage just two seats, while Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP won six Lok Sabha seats and Kushwaha’s RSLP had won in three constituencies. With Kumar’s return to NDA fold, Kushwaha does not want to give up seats for JD(U) and instead want BJP to accommodate it by reducing its seat share.

Nitish Kumar’s ‘neech’remark

Kushwaha, who is known not to share cordial relations with the Bihar CM, was also recently involved in a war of words and alleged that Kumar referred to him as “neech (low bred)” in a recent statement. The JD(U) chief’s ‘remarks’ came after Kushwaha claimed that Nitish once told him that he would not want to remain CM after three consecutive terms.

The fight between JD(U) and RLSP took a turn for the worse in November after two RLSP MLAs reportedly offered to join JD(U). RLSP MLAs Sudhanshu Shekhar and Lalan Paswan met top JD(U) leaders, including its national vice-president Prashant Kishor, and were reportedly offered a ministerial berth and the Sasaram parliamentary seat, respectively.

This made Kushwaha upset who accused JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar of poaching his MLAs. Kushwaha said Nitish Kumar had “an expertise in breaking away MLAs” and he is now after his party after having earlier split the BSP, RJD and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Education a fresh flashpoint

A recent flashpoint between the two parties has been on the development of education in Bihar. Last week, Kushwaha questioned Kumar’s “Nalanda model” of education and said the Bihar government has recruited teachers a majority of whom cannot even properly count from 1 to 100.

Kushwaha had announced that he would sit on fast on December 8 and 9 to press for allotment of land by the state government to open two Kendriya Vidyalayas — in Devkund in Aurangabad district and Nawada.