The political circles are agog with speculations that Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) of Upendra Kushwaha would not stay with the NDA and might join the bandwagon of the RJD and the Congress. The NDA too is seemingly convinced that the RLSP was not feeling easy particularly after the unconfirmed reports about the seat sharing between BJP and JD(U).
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday had a meeting with leaders of his party and discussed the matter and the social implications after RLSP’s exit from the NDA and alliance with the maha gathbandhan. Union Minister Kushwaha had formed this party after quitting the JD(U) in 2013 and it is known as a party of backward Kushwaha caste.
Before the birth of RLSP, the JD(U) was treated as party of Kurmi and Kushwaha and Nitish Kumar as their sole leader. It is because of Kushwaha’s stubborn attitude that the seat sharing among the NDA partners could not be announced. The RLSP started flexing muscles after the reports that the BJP has suggested a 20:20 formula of seat sharing with the saffron party keeping 20 seats and accommodating its three other allies in the remaining 20 seats with major seats, possibly 12 seats to JD(U), six to LJP and two to RLSP.
RLSP and Kushwaha apparently rejected this formula with some of its State leaders demanding more seats than the JD(U) saying the population of Kushwaha caste was higher than Kurmi.
The anticipation that RLSP might side with Lalu Prasad’s party has caused worries in the NDA because Kushwaha caste is treated as important in the backward social engineering and politically conscious and powerful only after Yadav.
After the meeting JD(U) MP Santosh Kushwaha said there would hardly any impact on NDA if any ally breaks away. “JD(U) is the natural party of Kushwahas and this social group is solidly behind Nitish Kumar,” he claimed and announced that a Kushwaha Vikas Rath will roll out across Bihar for the awareness among the caste. He said the party will give more representation to this section in ticket allotment in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
However, the JD(U) is also suspecting a dent in its acceptability in Kushwaha society following the dropping of Kumari Manju Verma from the cabinet after the name of her husband cropped up in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape episode and his connection with main accused Brajesh Thakur. Manju Verma was Social Welfare Minister and was asked to resign. She had repeatedly said that she was being punished because she belonged to Kushwaha backward caste. In bid to blunt her attack, Nitish had allotted Social Welfare department to his education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, who too belongs to Kushwaha caste.