Kushwaha to announce on Thursday whether RLSP stays with NDA

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Patna,  Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha on Wednesday said he will announce his decision on continuing with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Thursday in Motihari — district headquarters of East Champaran.

After a closed-door discussion with party leaders at the RLSP’s two-day “Chintan Shivir” on December 4 and 5 at Valmikinagar (in West Champaran district), Kushwaha told the media the party leaders and workers have authorised him to take a final decision on whether to continue with the NDA or walk out of the alliance.

“I will again sit with the party leaders on Wednesday night to discuss this issue before I announce the party’s decision on Thursday in Motihari,” he said.

According to a senior RLSP leader, almost all party leaders and workers have spoken against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Bihar unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, and suggested pulling out of the NDA.

Kushwaha said the national leadership of the BJP and the BJP leadership in Bihar are different. “In Bihar, it has become a B team of Nitish Kumar’s JD-U,” he said.

Last week Kushwaha had said he will not take any decision alone and that the decision in this regard will be taken after discussions with the party leaders.

Earlier, the member of Parliament from Karakat constituency gave an ultimatum to the BJP to come up by November 30 with a “respectable” seat-sharing arrangement in the state for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. But Modi left for Argentina for the G20 Summit, without inviting Kushwaha for any kind of talks.

Earlier, BJP national President Amit Shah had also not given time to Kushwaha to thrash out issues between the two parties.

Last month, Kushwaha had said that the RLSP has decided to reject the seat-sharing arrangement worked out by the BJP, though he did not divulge the number seats offered to his party.