PATNA: Bihar lawmaker and former union minister Upendra Kushwaha on Monday announced his exit from the ruling Janata Dal-United and the launch of a new party, Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD), with another sharp attack on chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Kushwaha, 63, who recently turned into Kumar’s harshest critic within the party, said the Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) will take forward the legacy of Kapoori Thakur, a socialist leader and an icon of backward politics, that he said was under threat due to Nitish Kumar’s ‘helplessness’.
“I resign from the primary membership of the party and I will also submit my resignation to the Bihar Legislative Council chairman after meeting him personally. I will seek time and resign as per the laid down process. I don’t and can’t avail any benefit at the cost of my dignity and conscience,” Kushwaha said.
The announcement to float the new party comes a day after a two-day convention of his loyalists. A member of the legislative council (MLC) from Sitamarhi and former legislator Ranvijay Singh were among the handful of JD-U leaders who turned up at the event.
Kushwaha has been upset with the chief minister after he endorsed his deputy Tejashwi Yadav as the next leader of the state’s ruling grand alliance on December 13 and hinted that Yadav will be the alliance’s presumptive chief minister in the 2025 assembly elections. Bihar’s ruling alliance comprises the Janata Dal (United), RJD, Congress and four other smaller parties.
“Nitish Kunar could not develop a political heir in his own party and is now looking at the neighbour’s house to hand over JD-U’s legacy,” Kushwaha said, adding that if Kumar wasn’t good enough, he could have picked someone else “from the extremely backward class (EBC) or Lav-Kush community”.
“But he held the entire party hostage and now JD-U is inching towards disintegration. There is nothing he can do about it now,” he added.
Asked about speculation that he could arrive at an arrangement with the BJP, Kushwaha said he didn’t know what the future holds and that Kumar had also suggested that he was acting at someone’s behest .
“I don’t know what the future holds. But if at all he has doubts, he should not say this when he himself has the track record of switching sides within hours to take oath as CM. In the evening he is with one party and in the morning, with the other,” he added.
JD-U president Lalan Singh welcomed Kushwaha’s exit, underlining that the party wasn’t surprised and always expected him to jump ship.
“It is good that he has announced a new party. Our best wishes to him. But wherever he goes, he should stay there peacefully. JD-U gave him a lot of respect right from day one, but he has a habit of hopping and skipping for his personal ambition. He wants everything for himself and that is what is reflected in his political journey so far. We knew what he was up to for the last few months, as it is what we expected of him,” Singh said.