Kushwaha quits JD-U again, floats new party

Patna, February 20

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Disgruntled Janata Dal (United) leader Upendra Kushwaha on Monday resigned from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD-U, less than two years after returning to the party, and announced formation of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Janata Dal.

JD-U president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias “Lalan”, however, berated the former parliamentary board chairman as an over-ambitious party-hopper, whose return was “opposed by all, but materialised only at the insistence of the CM” whom Kushwaha had assured “I will now live and die here”.

Learnt lessons from nitish

I have learnt some lessons from big brother Nitish Kumar. I will now seek to galvanise disgruntled elements in the JD-U. —Upendra Kushwaha, Former union minister

Kushwaha, who has been venting spleen against Kumar for some time, also announced that he would be seeking an appointment with chairman of the legislative council to resign from his membership of the House, adding with rhetorical flourish “zameer bechkar amir nahin banenge” (I cannot barter my conscience for perks).

He alleged that Kumar, his political benefactor, had “pawned his political capital by having hinted that Tejashwi Yadav (the Deputy CM) shall be the future leader of the coalition”, which JD-U had joined nearly six months ago.

Lalan, however, pointed out that Kushwaha, who then headed the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), had aligned with the RJD after quitting the NDA in 2018, “and he appeared to be fine with Tejashwi Yadav back then”.

The JD-U chief also rubbished Kushwaha’s allegation that Kumar, the party’s de facto leader, no more exercised his own judgement, but acted on the advice of a coterie.

Kushwaha minced no words while giving vent to his frustration over Yadav taking centre-stage, but maintained, “I would have been okay with Kumar not projecting me as the future leader had he chosen anybody from within the party, belonging to the ‘Luv Kush’ samaj or the extremely backward classes who form the JD-U’s support base.”