Upendra Kushwaha flies back home, party to ‘open’ cards on Dec 6

After RLSP state executive meet on Nov 17, Kushwaha set a Nov 30 deadline for BJP to resolve seat sharing issue in the backdrop of his failed attempts to meet BJP chief Amit Shah

As the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party’s deadline for clarity on the number of seats for respective NDA allies in state drew to a close on Friday, Union minister of state and RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha, who had been camping in Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi since Monday, took a flight back home, saying “our party is being ‘forced’ to take a decision.”

Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) Chief Upendra Kushwaha (HT File Photo)

With this, the RLSP’s quest for desired number of seats, commensurate to the expansion in its base, has brought the party face-to-face with a situation that leaves it with no option other than walking out of the NDA. A decision about the party’s future course of action is likely to be announced on December 6, after the conclusion of the proposed two-day ‘chintan shivir’ at Valmikinagar.

This was in the pipeline for a while now, as the party had not only aired its aspirations early, but also dropped hints of a probable political realignment with a ‘kheer’ recipe, took on chief minister Nitish Kumar for his ‘neech’ remark and even formally rejected state BJP in-charge Bhupendra Yadav’s seat share offer as “less than honourable”.

After its state executive meeting on November 17, Kushwaha set a November 30 deadline for the BJP to resolve seat sharing issue in the backdrop of his failed attempts to meet BJP chief Amit Shah. “I will not make attempts to meet any BJP leader on my own, except PM Modi, unless asked for,” he had stated.

The RLSP chief, who has all along expressed his desire to stick with the NDA and work for the re-election of PM Modi, has been feeling the heat, since the return of JD(U) in NDA’s fold. He continued to be critical of the state government’s performance on education and law and order front.

Aware of the attempts to squeeze his party out of the NDA, particularly after the equal seat share announcement for JD(U) and BJP by Amit Shah, Kushwaha also spoke of the sabotage theory by a set of state NDA leaders, saying, “Some within the state NDA are working to foil the chances of PM Modi’s re-election. I will not back off from apprising the PM of my views.”

However, his hopes for a personal meeting in the tight election schedule was all but over on Thursday as the PM took off for a visit to Argentina. “I did not expect such a situation to emerge in the NDA,” was all Kushwaha would admit.

A day after RLSP’s ultimatum, state BJP in-charge Bhupendra Yadav, who was in town, had exuded confidence that all was well in the NDA and the issue would be resolved once Shah was free to set up a meeting with Kushwaha.

By “appearing unmoved” about the concerns of alliance partner RLSP, the BJP has indicated that it has chosen the JD(U) as its most important ally in Bihar.

Now, the options are wide open for Kushwaha-led RLSP either to continue in the NDA, albeit with a pinch of salt, or give a serious look at Grand Alliance’s invite to join ranks or put popularity and ambition to serious test by going it alone in the 2019 polls leading to assembly elections the following year.

Another option is to work for cobbling up a third formation, with smaller outfits vying for a larger pie in the electoral space. But no one in the party is ready to speak out, as of now.

“National and state party office bearers and founding members will congregate at Valmikinagar where all issues and recent developments will be discussed threadbare for enabling them to take a call on future course of action,” said Kushwaha, soon after landing in the state capital.