Allegations of 'selling' RLSP tickets are absurd: Kushwaha

Stung by allegations that he was "selling" tickets for Lok Sabha polls, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha Wednesday said the charge was "absurd" as the seats that his party would be contesting were yet to be finalized.

The former Union minister also challenged expelled RLSP leaders Pradeep Mishra and Nagmani, who made the allegations at a press meet here on Tuesday, to prove the charges and remarked, "I know who is their sutradhar (puppeteer)," in an oblique reference to Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar.

"Mishra alleged that I took Rs 95 lakh for giving him ticket for East Champaran seat. Nagmani said I turned back on my promise and chose Madhav Anand for a seat as he had used his corporate connections to raise Rs 9 crore for the party. "They are saying all this when even I do not know which seats, out of the 40 in the state, RLSP is going to get," Kushwaha told reporters here.

The RLSP chief also played an audio clip of Mishra's press meet and said, "You can hear him saying at one point that I sold him the ticket. In the same breath, he also says that he had given me the money for running the party and holding rallies. Now you try to make sense of this."