Patna: Disgruntled Janata Dal (United) leader Upendra Kushwaha on Monday floated a new party titled Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal after announcing his exit from JD (U).
Kushwaha has been nominated national president of the newly-floated party, which will carry on the political legacy of socialist icon late Karpoori Thakur.
Making the announcement at a press conference following a two-day JD(U) workers meeting called by him, Kushwaha, who is also the JD(U)’s Parliamentary Board chairperson, said he would seek an appointment with the chairman of the Bihar legislative council to give up his membership of the House. “I will tender my resignation as soon as the appointment is fixed,” he said.
Kushwaha held Nitish Kumar responsible for weakening the JD(U) which was formed with the sole objective to carry on the political legacy of the late Karpoori Thakur following its split from the Janata Dal. He claimed that initially, Nitish worked well and revived Bihar from the morass of Lalu’s RJD rule.
“Bihar moved on a development path under the leadership of Nitish Kumar when he was made the chief minister in 2005 with the blessing of the people of the state,” Kushwaha said, adding that Nitish later deviated and started dancing to the tune of some leaders, who were part of his coterie.
“JD(U) weakened after Nitish started taking decisions on suggestions of a selected group of leaders of the party,” Kushwaha asserted.
He alleged that Nitish never tried to appoint his political heir from persons who had lent their support during his struggle for 10-12 years after the split of the Janata Dal.
He also accused Nitish of adopting an indifferent attitude towards pushing leaders from the Luv-Kush (stands for the OBC Kurmi community and the OBC Kushwaha (Koeri) group respectively), the EBC (Economically Backward Classes), and Dalit communities. He said that he had joined the JD(U) after the 2020 assembly election on the initiative of Nitish and that he had also merged his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) with the JD(U). He clarified that the RLSP became non-existent after the merger. “I had returned to the JD(U) after sacrificing all that I had gained during my career as a politician,” Kuswaha added.
“I decided to float a new party after I felt that Nitish ji “pawned” (‘girvi rakh diya’) his political capital,” he said while also expressing anguish over
