In a major setback to the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and the grand alliance in the state ahead of the 2024 general elections, the chairman of the JDU parliamentary committee and MLC Upendra Kushwaha on Monday quit the party post and floated a new party.
Kushwaha, a former Union minister of state, made an announcement to this effect on Monday here at a press conference. He took the decision to quit the JDU and float a party of his own after two-day deliberations in a marathon meeting of his supporters held here at the Sinha library.
He has resigned from all the party posts. In fact, on Monday morning itself he had submitted his resignation to all concerned including CM Nitish Kumar, the national party president Lallan Singh and the former state party president Basisth Narain Singh. Senior JD U leaders confirmed his resignation.
In the press meet, Khushwaha announced that his newly-floated party called Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD). He has been unanimously nominated as the national president of the new party.
The newly-formed party will carry forward the rich legacy of the late socialist leader Karpoori Thakur. In a couple of days, details would be worked out about the party office bearers and the future course of action. However, he did not disclose about any possible realignment with the BJP. He kept his card close to his chest on this issue.
Kushwaha, who is also a member of the Upper House, would seek an appointment with the chairman of the Bihar legislative Council Devesh Chandra Thakur soon to relinquish his membership of the Upper House.
The announcement of his resignation from JDU has put an end to the month-long verbal duel between Nitish Kumar and Kushwaha.
According to sources, neither JDU ministers nor any legislator was visible at the meeting ground barring one MLC Rameshwar Mahto. A large number of Kushwaha supporters from Samastipur Sitamarhi Motihari Saran districts were present during the two-day meeting.
Soon after the announcement of a new party, Kushwaha supporters were heard raising slogan of “Upendra Vir hai, Bihar ki Taqdeer hai” outside the press meet venue.
Almost eight years after his split from JDU, Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) completed a full circle (March 2021) as it merged into JDU under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. Again, in less than two years (February 2023) Kushwaha quits Nitish’s party.
It may be recalled here that Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP)-JDU merger comes few days after Kushwaha’s party badly suffered a split with 30 party office bearers walking over to the RJD.
In the last nine years of its existence, the RLSP has been part of both the NDA as well as the RJD-Congress led grand alliance in Bihar. In fact, Kushwaha served the post of Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development under PM Narendra Modi’s first tenure.
Rejecting the agreement with the RJD, Kushwaha said that CM Nitish did well in his initial years, but later he became the “victim of his own coterie of few chosen ministers”. He alleged that these “favaourits”of Nitish have no contribution to forming as well as strengthening of the party.
In the Bihar assembly election in 2020, RLSP aligned with an electoral coalition with Asauddin Owaisis’s party and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. However, Kushwaha did not win a single seat.