PATNA: Even as RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha keeps meeting senior leaders of Congress and NCP ever since quitting NDA and resigning as Union minister, his Bihar-based party verged on a split on Saturday after the three legislators it has in the state asserted that they are the real party and would stay with NDA.
The two MLAs of RLSP – Lalan Paswan and Sudhanshu Shekhar – and the party’s lone MLC, Sanjiv Singh Shyam, said they would soon approach the Election Commission of India with a request to be recognised as the real RLSP. The trio also asked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to give one of them a ministerial berth in return for supporting the state’s NDA government.
“Upendra Kushwaha took the decision of quitting NDA purely out of his self-interest and without consulting with the larger section of the party’s rank and file. We have been opposing this decision. Now we have decided to stay with NDA,” said Sanjiv Singh Shyam.
Lalan Paswan said: “We are the real RLSP, the original one. The party used to be with us and will remain with us forever. He (Kushwaha) is now a lone leader without a party”. Shyam, Paswan and Shekhar claimed that “ninety-nine percent” of Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), which had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and Bihar’s 2015 Assembly polls as an NDA partner, are with NDA.
“One of us should get a place in the state cabinet. We have said that Sudhanshu Shekhar should be made a minister and others should get a place in the committees of the state legislature. We are saying so because LJP, which is a party similar to us, has got a ministerial berth despite having just two MLAs,” said Shyam.
Kushwaha was visited by senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel and Rajya Sabha member from Bihar, Akhilesh Singh, in his residence in Delhi on Saturday. Kushwaha had met senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal at the latter’s residence in Pune.
“The defection of these three legislators due to inducement from Nitish Kumar will have no impact on RLSP. They are being induced by Nitish Kumar, who is habitually misusing the CM’s office to break parties. The entire party stands solidly with Upendra Kushwaha, who is an extremely popular leader in Bihar” said RLSP national general secretary and chief spokesperson Madhaw Anand.