Opposition gets boost in Bihar as Upendra Kushwaha joins UPA
Kushwaha lauded Rahul Gandhi for coming to the aid of farmers and youths and said the Congress President does what he says.
New Delhi: The Opposition alliance in Bihar got a shot in the arm on Thursday with Rashtriya Lok Samta Party chief Upendra Kushwaha joining the UPA days after he quit the NDA.
This was announced at the AICC headquarters here, that signals the new importance the Congress has acquired following its recent Assembly election victories.
At the press conference were senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, AICC state in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav and senior Opposition leader Sharad Yadav.
Mr Kushwaha, a former Union minister, joined the UPA after holding talks with the Congress leadership. On a seat-sharing arrangement with the UPA, he said, “We will take the right decision at the right time.”
Mr Kushwaha said the main reason behind him quitting the NDA was the failure of the Modi government to fulfil the promises made to the people of Bihar, besides the “insult” he suffered within the NDA.
He said an “aakrosh march” will be taken out in Patna on February 2 in which various like-minded parties would participate.
Mr Kushwaha lauded Rahul Gandhi for coming to the aid of farmers and youths and said the Congress President does what he says.
He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “insulting” the people of Bihar and the country by not fulfilling the promises made to them.
The RLSP chief alleged Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar conspired to weaken him within the NDA and that the prime minister remained a mute spectator when he was being “insulted”.
“Our party was being weakened as part of a conspiracy. Nitish Kumar tried to break my party,” he alleged.
The RLSP chief’s joining the UPA is likely to give a boost to the formation of a grand Bihar alliance to counter the NDA combine of BJP, JD(U) and Lok Janshakti Party.
The Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and former Bihar CM’s Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) are already part of the UPA in Bihar, and are seeking to give a fight to the NDA in the coming Lok Sabha polls. The saffron alliance had swept the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, winning 31 of the state’s 40 seats.
After JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar left the grand alliance in Bihar to join the NDA, political equations in the country as well as the state have changed. While the BJP suffered major reverses in the recent round of Assembly elections and byelections, the Congress and BSP-SP in Uttar Pradesh got a fresh lease of life with successive wins.