Kushwaha supporters take out march against Nitish's 'neech' remark

Supporters of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party of Union minister Upendra Kushwaha took out an "aakrosh march" in Patna on Saturday to protest a statement by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar which, they claimed, denigrated the RLSP chief.

The march started from Gandhi Maidan and was to reach Raj Bhavan, but police stopped it at Dak Bungalow Road crossing, about 2 km from its intended destination, leading to a skirmish in which people from both the sides were stated to have been injured.

The protesters wanted to submit a memorandum to the Bihar governor against the alleged "neech" remark made by Kumar.

The march was organised a day after Kushwaha made it clear that the RLSP had a tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party and not the Janata Dal (United), constituents of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar.

Kushwaha has reportedly been peeved after the BJP and the JD(U) decided to contest an equal number of seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election in the state.

The state sends 40 members to Parliament and after the BJP-JD(U) deal, there is a speculation that this would mean fewer seats for other allies like RLSP and Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

The "aakrosh march" was taken out by "Samast Kushwaha Samaj", an organisation floated by RLSP parliamentary board chairman J P Verma, which claims to represent the interest of Koeri caste to which the Union minister of state for human resource development, belongs.

The protesters carried posters accusing Kumar of having called the RLSP chief "neech" (lowly) and raising slogans demanding public apology from the chief minister.

At a conclave organised by a private news channel last week, Kumar also the JD(U) president had refused to join issue with Kushwaha over seat-sharing between NDA partners in Bihar, saying "Itna neeche baat ko nahi le jaiye (do not take the debate to such a low level."