Union minister Upendra Kushwaha’s recent actions are giving the BJP a headache and fuelling speculation that he may quit the NDA ahead of 2019.
New Delhi: Days after he set tongues wagging with his kheer remarks, Union minister Upendra Kushwaha has met with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders, giving further credence to speculation that a political realignment may be in the works in Bihar.
Kushwaha, chief of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), one of the BJP’s allies in Bihar, met the NCP leaders in New Delhi.
Sources close to the RLSP chief said the politics of Bihar was discussed at length.
“Coalitions, caste arithmetic and chances of a non-BJP coalition winning in the state were discussed. Congress allies too are working on breaking various smaller allies of the BJP ahead of the (2019) elections,” said the source.
Kushwaha, it is learnt, has also held closed-door meetings with various regional parties, such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is a part of the Congress-led Mahagatbandhan for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The RLSP leader’s recent invoking of a kheer analogy — to call for a caste collective that included the Yadavs, the core vote bank of the RJD — was seen as a message to ally, the BJP.
It had prompted RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav to tweet that “kheer prepared with love and affection is delicious, full of nutrition, and gives one energy”.
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Kushwaha has been unhappy ever since the NDA readmitted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U). He was also miffed that when BJP president Amit Shah visited the state in July, he accorded “more importance” to Nitish Kumar and the JD(U).
The RLSP believes the BJP is not giving it its due; it believes it has secured a bigger vote-share than the JD(U) in the last elections.
The BJP is aware that Kushwaha is wriggling out of its grip and has already begun working on a counter to the RLSP leader, in case he decides to desert it in the middle of the election season.
“These Lok Sabha elections are not as simple as any other general polls. The party is keeping an eye on all dissidents and if they don’t fall in line, there are other ways to manage these smaller glitches,” a BJP leader said. “Not everyone is indispensable. But we hope that he (Kushwaha) stays in the fold.”
A problem for the BJP
While Kushwaha has clarified that his kheer remarks were to only emphasise the importance of caste unity and should not be read as a breakdown of ties with the BJP, his recent actions could put the ruling party in a spot.
Much before his kheer remarks, Kushwaha had skipped a meeting of NDA constituents in Bihar in June. He has also made plain his displeasure at Nitish’s inclusion in the NDA and has been openly critical of the chief minister’s functioning.
The RLSP, conscious of the fact that its support base has increased over the years in the state, is also batting for more Lok Sabha seats than the JD(U) in Bihar.
The party, which currently has three MPs, is increasingly seen as one representing the Kushwahas, also known as Koeris in Bihar, who are largely a farming community in the state. They constitute about 10 per cent of the state’s population.
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The community is the fourth largest caste group after Muslims (17 per cent), Dalits (15 per cent) and Yadavs (14 per cent) and hold sway in 15 to 20 of Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats.
In contrast, Nitish belongs to the Kurmi caste, which accounts for four per cent of Bihar’s population, and is concentrated around his hometown of Nalanda and nearby areas. The JD(U) also has only two Lok Sabha MPs, none of whom are in the union cabinet.
For the BJP, which believes that a swing in caste-specific votes could turn the tide against it, the RLSP leader’s recent flip-flops are giving its high command a headache.