Upendra Kushwaha bent on 3 Lok Sabha seats

BY- ANSHUMAN KUMAR
New Delhi: Rashtriya Loktantrik Samata Party (RLSP) leader and union minister Upendra Kushwaha on Friday resorted to pressure tactics for a larger share of seats within the BJP-led NDA in Bihar.

Knowing very well that the formula proposed by him might not get approved by the BJP, his strategy is to play victim, which could be beneficial during the elections.


“Our party will contest more than three seats, the number we have contested in 2014,” he said while addressing a press conference in Patna. “I will be going to Delhi in the coming few days and will meet BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi over seat sharing.”

Sources within the RLSP, however, told ET that during his meeting with Shah, Kushwaha would pitch for three seats — same as in the previous Lok Sabha election — for his party to remain in the NDA.

In 2014, the party contested three Lok Sabha seats — Karakat, Sitamarhi and Jahanabad — and won in all. Since Jahanabad MP Arun Kumar is no more with the party, RLSP is left with two seats. As per sources, he has been offered the existing two seats, Karakat and Sitamarhi. But Kushwaha wants one more, Valmiki Nagar, held by BJP’s Satish Chandra Dubey.