Vaishali: In what can be termed as cracks within the National Democratic Alliance, key ally Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) declared Upendra Kushwaha as its Chief Ministerial Candidate for upcoming State Legislative Assembly Elections.
The Party had held its two-day executive committee meeting in Vaishali on Saturday and Sunday, where this decision was taken. Party spokesperson Shivraj Singh conveyed this decision to media at the conclusion of meeting.
What can be termed more intriguing is that the party devised a seat sharing formula on its own. According to the Party Spokesperson, RLSP would contest the elections on 67 seats out of 243 seats in Bihar. It allotted 74 seats for the Lok Janshakti Party and 102 seats for the BJP. No Seats were offered to Jitan Manjhi led Hindustani Awam Morcha, which recently offered its support to NDA.
Upendra Kushwaha is the Chief of Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and an MP from Karakat Lok Sabha Constituency. He is minister of State Rural Development in Narendra Modi led Union Government of India.
Prime NDA constituent BJP however declined the seat sharing formula as well as Kushwaha’s candidature and called it a pressure tactic to grab more seats in pre-poll seat distribution of alliance.
“Let them say whatever they want to but the Chief Minister will only be from the BJP,†said Senior State BJP leader and MP from Buxar, Ashwini Choubey.
In a related development Lok Jan Shakti Party Chief Ram Vilas Paswan vetoed the inclusion into NDA of 5 rebel MLAs of newly formed HAM(Secular), led by Former Chief Minister Jitan Manjhi. Paswan raised the objection on grounds that these 5 MLAs had deserted LJP 10 years back and had joined JDU after winning the polls, rendering the party ineffective in state politics for long. Those 5 HAM(Secular) MLAs are Narendra Singh, Ajay Pratap, Sumit Kumar Singh, Raju Singh, Ajit Kumar and Anil Kumar.
Similar cracks have been reported in rival camp of JDU-RJD-Congress where the seat sharing and CM Candidature remains bones of contention. Few days ago, RJD had accepted Nitish Kumar as CM Candidate, however differences over this decision have been widely observed in the party. The Secular Alliance is yet to announce the seat sharing formula, which seems to be difficult to devise for both RJD and JDU. The only respite is from Congress, which is offering its continued support and is trying to pacify both the parties, in an effort to minimize BJP’s impact in Polls.