Our Correspondent / NEW DELHI
Giving a big jolt to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Upendra Kushwaha, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief, has resigned as the Union Minister of State (MoS) for Human Resource and Development (HRD).
Upendra Kushwaha had been targeting the BJP after the latter refused to give it more than two seats to contest the Lok Sabha election 2019.
The decision to rest the endless speculations of him severing ties with the NDA came hours after Kushwaha said that he will not attend the allies meeting today. Kushwaha is likely to attend he opposition meeting today.
Kushwaha was upset over BJP’s seat-sharing deal in Bihar
Kushwaha had also refused to attend the NDA allies meet today
He is likely to attend he opposition meeting
While Kushwaha’s party has been given only two seats to contest the Lok Sabha election 2019, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) (JDU) was offered the same number of seats as the BJP.
Kushwaha had been maintaining that the number of seats his party was offered was not respectable. He had even hinted at a “great threat” to the NDA if his party is not offered a respectable number of seats to contest the Lok Sabha elections 2019.
On December 6, a senior RLSP leader had hinted that Upendra Kushwaha may announce his parting of ways with the BJP over the latter’s refusal to give more than two seats to RLSP in the Lok Sabha polls.
His sharpest public expression of revolt against the NDA came in a strongly-worded statement by the RLSP expressing concern over what it believed were objectionable and unnecessary decisions taken by the BJP and the central government. “We are not opposed to construction of mosques and temples. But this is not the function of political parties and their meddling in such matters causes tensions in the society and diverts the attention of the public from real issues,” said the party’s resolution.
On the growing chorus for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya by BJP’s leaders and allies, RLSP’s resolution said it “gives rise to the suspicion that the largest party in the coalition ruling the Centre, and some of its leaders, are deliberately trying to make the people forget about poverty, illiteracy and unemployment and get swayed by emotive issues. The party strongly condemns this attitude”.