Sushil Modi 'camp follower', should say something on Srijan scam: Kushwaha

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha made a sharp attack on Sunday apparently against BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi by calling him a "pichhlaggu" (camp follower) of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Without naming Modi, Kushwaha in a series of tweets said some people are "publicity hungry, opportunist and pro-power by nature". He describe Modi as a "loudspeaker" and "blood-sucking mosquito" which spreads diseases around it.

Kushwaha's remarks could deepen the differences within the National Democratic Alliance, which is struggling to find a seat-sharing arrangement for the 2019 general election. The RLSP chief has said the number of seats offered to his party was "not respectable" and the matter should be resolved by November 30.

On Saturday, shortly after Kushwaha set the deadline, Modi in a tweet responded to him, saying the NDA will "not be browbeaten" and seats will be allotted based on "ground realities".

The JD(U) and the BJP last month announced they will contest equal number of seats, but did not say what their share would be.

Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, the fourth partner in the alliance, has said it expects to contest a "respectable number" of seats in the state.

During the 2014 election, the RLSP, which Kushwaha formed in 2013 after breaking out from the JD(U), contested and won three seats. The LJP contested seven seats then. Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats.

"There are people who are 'rajnitik pichhlaggu' (camp follower in politics). Such people are publicity hungry, opportunist and pro-power by nature. The utility of such people are merely confined to work as loudspeaker for alliance partner or its leader. Such people thrive in the party by sucking blood and spreading malaria and dengue in their own party," Kushwaha tweeted in Hindi.

By "loudspeaker", the RLSP chief apparently referred to Modi's denial that Chief Minister Kumar called him "neech" (lowly person).

During a programme on November 4 when Kumar was asked about the seat-sharing issue with Kushwaha, he had said, "Itna neeche baat ko nahi le jaiye" (do not take the debate to such a low level). The RLSP chief construed that the chief minister called him a lowly person.

Also on Sunday, Kushwaha asked Deputy Chief Minister Modi to say "something" on the Srijan scam as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to provide a corruption-free government.

In another tweet, he said, "You have rightly said that our PM Sri @narendramodi ji made every effort to provide corruption-free government. Please say something on Srijan scam too."