Patna, Jun 25 (PTI) Senior JD(U) leader Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha on Tuesday claimed that he has been named, “by the NDA”, as the candidate for the upcoming bypoll to the Bihar legislative council.
The bypoll, scheduled on July 12, has been necessitated by the disqualification of RJD MLC Rambali Singh Chandravanshi, whose membership was annulled in February, following a complaint by his own party.
Kushwaha told reporters, “I am grateful to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also national president of my party, for reposing his trust in me. The NDA has named me as the candidate for the legislative council bypoll. I will file my nomination papers on July 2.” JD(U) office bearers here said on condition of anonymity that they were not in receipt of any intimation from the party supremo on the legislative council bypoll.
They were, however, of the view that Kushwaha might have been told by Kumar “in private” about the decision and he chose to go public in over-excitement, without waiting for a formal announcement by the party.
BJP leaders also maintained a studied silence over the issue.
A party-hopper, Kushwaha had started off with the ultra-Left Indian People’s Front in the 1990s and later joined Samata Party, the JD(U)’s previous avatar. He quit the party in 2013 to join Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) floated by Nitish Kumar’s rebellious protégé Upendra Kushwaha.
However, the RLSP began to implode after Upendra Kushwaha’s exit from BJP-led NDA ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls which also caused him to lose his ministerial berth at the Centre.
Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha tried his luck in the Lok Janshakti Party, then headed by Chirag Paswan, before returning to the JD(U) in 2021, around the same time when Upendra Kushwaha also came back, merging the RLSP, only to make another exit less than two years later and form a new party, Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).
The RLM, which is also an NDA ally, failed to open its account in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Ahead of the elections, it had been promised one seat each in Lok Sabha and the legislative council. The antics of Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha appear to have unsettled the fledgling party.
“Reports about candidature in the legislative council bypoll are misleading. Talks are still on in the NDA,” said RLM national general secretary Madhaw Anand, whose party is understood to have been eyeing the berth. PTI NAC SOM
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