RLSP Chief Upendra Kushwaha quits NDA, resigns as union minister

RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA Monday,  a day ahead of the start of the Winter Session. Triggering a realignment of political equations in Bihar, Kushwaha, according to news agency ANI resigned as Union Minister.

Upendra Kushwaha was the minister of state for human resource development. The Rashtriya Lok Samta Party chief has been targeting the BJP and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a key ally of the ruling party, for weeks.  He has been upset with the BJP after it asserted that the RLSP would not be given more than two seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, even as it went out of way to accommodate Kumar by agreeing that the saffron party and the JD(U)  would fight equal number of seats.

The RSLP chief was quoted by ANI as saying that he would not be attending a meeting of NDA allies to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi today, ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament.

"Kushwaha is likely to announce his parting of ways with the BJP today. He will also quit as a Union minister," a senior RLSP leader had said earlier today.  The RLSP may join hands with the opposition, which includes Lalu Prasad's RJD and the Congress.