Union Minister of State Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) is likely to break ties with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over a seat-sharing deal for the 2019 General Elections.
According to a report published in NDTV, the formal announcement of breaking ties with the NDA government will be made today. NDTV quoted a senior RLSP leader saying that Kushwaha is also likely to put in his papers as Union minister.
“That is just a formality which would be completed once he visits Delhi and meets PM Modi,” the leader said. Notably, Upendra Kushwaha is the Minister of State for Human Resource Development in the NDA at the Centre.
Earlier in November, Upendra Kushwaha asserted that he was in favour of Narendra Modi returning as the prime minister in 2019, but will not tolerate any insult against the party.
In a series of tweets, Kushwaha did not mention the issue of seat sharing, but demanded justice and respect. He said, “Adarniye pradhan mantri Sri @narendramodi jee ko 2019 me fir se pradhan mantri banana chahta hoon. Lekin apman sahkar nahi (We (RLSP) want to see PM Narendra Modi as PM again in 2019 but without tolerating any insult.”
The RLSP chief also used excerpts from Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s book ‘Rashmirathi’ to give expression to his thoughts. Kushwaha said “Do nyay agar to jyada do, par isme yadi badha ho. To de do kewal hamara samman, rakho apni dharti tamam.”
Importantly, the BJP and the JD(U) had agreed to contest an equal number of seats in Bihar, out of a total of 40, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Previously, the RLSP chief had sought the prime minister’s intervention to resolve the seat-sharing issue in Bihar NDA.
On November 10, the Union minister had demanded that his party be allotted more than three seats in the state by the NDA to contest the 2019 election, given that the RLSP’s strength has grown significantly.
Interestingly, the RLSP, as an ally of the BJP in the NDA, had won three seats in the 2014 general election.
Also Read: Upendra Kushwaha: Want Narendra Modi to return as PM, but won’t tolerate insults