Patna, Jun 7 (PTI) Rashtriya Lok Morcha president Upendra Kushwaha on Sunday voiced delight over Nishant, the son of JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, entering politics, but expressed disappointment over the scion getting inducted into the state cabinet without the deputy CM’s rank.
Kushwaha, who has been a protégé of Nitish Kumar, having floated at least three parties breaking away from the JD(U) and merged two of these back with the parent outfit, expressed his sentiments at a conclave of the RLM.
“I am strongly with the NDA and will remain strongly so. I was among the first few people to have backed Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate in 2014. But the fact remains that we have no ideological affinity with the BJP. Our ideology aligns with that of the JD(U). I had been a founding member of the Samata Party, as the JD(U) was known in its previous avatar. And my sympathies remain with that movement”, said the Rajya Sabha MP.
Kushwaha, who had last quit the JD(U) in 2023, alleging that a “deal” had been struck to merge the party with Lalu Prasad’s RJD, claimed, “Even before anyone in the JD(U) said so, I had been advocating the entry of Nishant. I was of the view that only Nishant could be a true political successor to his father.” The former Union minister also said, “I am happy that Nishant is finally a minister. But I am disappointed that he agreed to become just a minister. He should have gone for a deputy CM’s post.” Incidentally, Kushwaha’s son Deepak Prakash is also a cabinet colleague of Nishant.
The JD(U) supremo’s heir apparent is all set to secure his cabinet berth by contesting legislative council polls, but the fate of Prakash hangs in the balance as the NDA has declared its candidates for eight out of nine seats, virtually slamming the doors on the RLM chief, who is rumoured to have been under pressure from the BJP to merge his current outfit.
In his interactions with the media, Kushwaha cryptically said he was still hopeful that the RLM would get a legislative council seat, pointing out “filing of nomination papers will continue till tomorrow”.
The RLM has only four MLAs in the 243-strong House and must get the support of larger allies – the BJP, JD(U) and Union minister Chirag Paswan’s LJPRV, which have respectively fielded four, three and one candidate.
When Prakash was asked whether he was worried about his prospects, he gave the guarded response, “Candidates for the legislative council polls were decided by the coalition as a whole. I am not competent enough to comment on that”.
The 35-year-old was inducted into the cabinet last month, and as per rules, he must get elected to the legislature within six months of his appointment, failing which he will have to give up the post.
Meanwhile, sources in the RJD, the main party in opposition, said that MLC Sunil Kumar Singh, a close aide of national president Lalu Prasad, is likely to file his nomination papers for yet another term.
Of the nine seats going to the polls, the RJD held two and another belonged to its ally Congress. However, in view of the assembly polls, which saw the NDA bagging 202 out of the 243 seats, the opposition coalition is likely to contest just one seat. PTI NAC BDC
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