Upendra Kushwaha may remain with NDA

NEW DELHI: Union minister Upendra Kushwaha may have dropped enough hints about his reluctance to accept only two seats as his party RLSP’s share under the seat-sharing formula with the NDA, but that may not stop him from continuing as the latter’s ally in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

“I do not play cricket and I do not understand 20-20. Instead, I would love to play ‘Gilli Danda’,” Kushwaha replied to a query by reporters in Patna on Monday. According to one seat-sharing formula model, BJP may contest 20 seats while allocating 12 seats to JDU, , 6 to Ram Vilas Paswan-headed LJP and 2 to RLSP. Meanwhile, RLSP has underlined the need for a meeting of all of NDA’s allies to discuss the seat-sharing formula.

“We hope BJP will properly invite all NDA partners –– JDU, LJP and RLSP –– to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement in Bihar. In the past four years, our support base has increased,” Madhaw Anand, RLSP’s national general secretary, told ET on phone. Madhaw also blamed the JD(U) for creating confusion over the seat-sharing arrangement. “It is JD(U) which has created confusion over the seat-sharing arrangement.


We had won three LS seats in the 2014 LS polls as an ally of NDA. This time, we hope for more seats in view of the party’s increased support base,” he said.

However, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar refused to comment on RLSP’s allegation against it for creating confusion over the seat-sharing arrangement within the NDA. “No comments,” Kumar told ET. RLSP chief Kushwaha has been hitting the headlines, of late, in Bihar for targeting the Nitish government on different issues, including law and order.