Nitish laughs off Kushwaha’s BJP moves

A picture of Bihar BJP leaders — spokespersons Prem Ranjan Patel and Sanjay Tiger, along with and Yogendra Paswan — calling on Kushwaha at AIIMS-Delhi on Friday has surfaced on social media.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar Saturday dismissed speculation that his party Janata Dal-United’s parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha, who has been dropping ample hints about his desire for a berth in the state cabinet, could join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar offers prayers at Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya on Saturday. (HT Photo)

“Tell Upendra Kushwaha ji to talk to us. How can we tell what someone’s wish is. In the past too, he left (JDU) two-three times and but came back on his own,” Kumar, the de facto leader of JD-U, told reporters in Gaya, when asked about three BJP leaders meeting Kushwaha on Friday at AIIMS in Delhi, where he is currently admitted for a health check-up.

“Just heard he is unwell and has gone to Delhi for treatment. Anyone can visit anyone anywhere. Will ask him if there is such a thing,” Kumar, who was in Gaya as part of his ongoing Samadhan Yatra, said.

A picture of Bihar BJP leaders — spokespersons Prem Ranjan Patel and Sanjay Tiger, along with and Yogendra Paswan — calling on Kushwaha at AIIMS-Delhi on Friday has surfaced on social media.

Kushwaha is currently an MLC (member of legislative council). In March 2021, he had merged his party, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), with the JD-U, months after it drew a blank in the 2020 assembly polls.

Kushwaha’s best political show was in the 2014 parliamentary polls when his fledgling RLSP, founded in 2013, won three Lok Sabha seats as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and he himself became a union minister.

In 2019 LS polls, however, RLSP drew a blank and Kushwaha himself lost from two seats he fought from. Since his party’s poor performance in 2020 Bihar polls, he had been in political wilderness till he merged his party with JD-U.

Of late, Kushwaha is said to be sulking and had aired his ambitions for deputy CM’s post. “I am neither a sanyasai (ascetic) nor am I sitting in a mutt (hermitage). I am sitting in the pavilion, but for how long?” he had said in response to a question.

CM Kumar, however, categorically ruled out the possibility of another deputy CM in Bihar while on a visit to Madhubani earlier this month.

Kushwaha has been an old associate of Nitish Kumar. He was made leader of opposition in Bihar in 2000. He parted ways Kumar in 2005 and joined the NCP, before returning to JD(U) in 2010. He became a Rajya Sabha member in 2010, but in 2013, he quit JD (U) and Rajya Sabha membership to float RLSP. He became part of NDA in 2014, and his party won on three Lok Sabha seats.

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP said his party doors are open for any one who is unhappy with the state government. “Anybody who is not pleased with the government, all those who have opposed the jungle raj regime of Lalu Prasad between 1990-2005 and those who do not want to be the slave of Lalu-Tejashwi family are welcome in the NDA and BJP,” state BJP president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal said on Saturday.

Asked if Nitish Kumar the bill, Jaiswal said, “He has fallen from grace. No party wants him.”

Prem Ranjan Patel, one of the three BJP leaders who met Kushwaha on Friday, said it was just a courtesy call. “He is an old friend of BJP. That is why we went to meet him.”

JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said there was no truth in rumours that Kushwaha was headed for BJP. “CM has said he will talk to him and everything will be fine,” he said.