Former member of the legislative council and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLM) president, Upendra Kushwaha, left for Delhi today amidst the ongoing seat-sharing dispute within the NDA ahead of the Bihar elections.
Kushwaha announced that he was cancelling a meeting of party leaders in Patna on X to depart for Delhi along with the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai. He said, "Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and I must depart for Delhi to discuss matters with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Therefore, the meeting scheduled for today with party colleagues at the camp office in Patna has been postponed immediately."
The Amit Shah invite follows the RLM’s leader’s upset over two of its six seats being suddenly allocated to other allies within the NDA. The party had already, reluctantly and conditionally agreed to accept the six seats assigned to them to field their candidates in a seat sharing meeting with th etop leaders of the BJP. The six seats included Sasaram, Madhubani, Dinara, Bajpatti, Mahua, and Ujiarpur.
In a huge letdown, the party was later informed that two seats, Mahua and Dinara, would be given to the LJP (R) and the JDU, respectively.
Upendra Kushwahas’s son Deepak Kushwaha was supposed to field the Mahua seat and Alok Singh for Dinara.
After the talks with the BJP, Kushwaha had forbidden all party leaders from attending the nominations of NDA leaders.
He had publicly expressed his displeasure over the decision and the later called for a meeting of party leaders in Patna. At midnight, Kushwaha created a storm in political circles after making a statement on social media saying, "This time nothing is well in the NDA..."
Since the post was made, BJP leaders have rushed to hold talks with the RLM leader to persuade him. Late into Tuesday night, Bihar BJP in-charge Vinod Tawde, Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary, and Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai were all seen arriving at Kushwaha’s residence.
Nothing seemed to come out of the meeting, however. While speaking to the media, Kushwaha just said , "Ask the same questions you are asking me to Samrat Chaudhary and Nityanand Rai."
After reaching Delhi he said to ANI "I had said this in Patna as well that there is some issue in the alliance (NDA) that has to be resolved. We have come here to meet the Home Minister and believe that everything will be resolved."
