Former Bihar minister Renu Kushwaha joins RJD

Patna, Jun 25 (PTI) Former Bihar minister Renu Kushwaha joined the opposition RJD on Wednesday, ahead of the assembly elections due later this year.
    Kushwaha, who has enjoyed several terms in the Vidhan Sabha and the Lok Sabha, joined the party along with her supporters in presence of Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav.
    She quit the BJP in 2019 upon being denied a ticket from the Khagaria Lok Sabha seat, which was represented by her a decade earlier.
    Last year, she resigned from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, alleging that tickets had been put on sale.
    Her induction is being seen as an attempt by the RJD to expand its base beyond the ‘MY’ (Muslim-Yadav) combine, and woo caste groups known for an affinity towards the NDA.
    Once known to be close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, she was with the JD(U) till 2014 when she joined the BJP and her husband contested, unsuccessfully, as the saffron party candidate from Madhepura.
    Speaking on the occasion, Yadav highlighted the incident of Etawah in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh where an OBC religious preacher was “publicly humiliated”.
    "This is the true character of the BJP-RSS. They cannot bear the sight of a Dalit or an OBC getting respect," the former Bihar deputy CM alleged.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)