PATNA: Ending speculation over his candidature for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha was on Tuesday declared as the NDA’s candidate for a seat to Parliament’s Upper House from Bihar.
Kushwaha is scheduled to file his nomination on March 5. Sources said that Kushwaha’s name was finalised following late-night discussions with senior BJP leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president Nitin Nabin.
As many as five seats from Bihar are going to fall vacant in April. Kushwaha will be the NDA’s fifth candidate and there will be an intense electoral battle if the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance also enters the fray.
With the NDA having 202 MLAs, four candidates from the ruling alliance will comfortably win the polls, but it will need the support of three more MLAs if it has to win the fifth seat. In such a situation, the fifth candidate will have to not only get the support of NDA allies but also of some opposition MLAs. Kushwaha will file his nomination on his party's symbol, sources said. Earlier, there was also speculation that Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh would be sent to the Rajya Sabha by the BJP.
Kushwaha had earlier served as Union minister of state for human resources and development. In addition, he previously served as an MLA and MLC from Bihar.
Born in Vaishali district in 1960, he completed his graduation from Patna Science College before pursuing an MA in Political Science from BR Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur in 1981. His son Deepak Prakash is currently the Bihar panchayati raj minister.
Kushwaha earlier worked with prominent leaders such as Karpoori Thakur and Jayaprakash Narayan. He became general secretary of the Yuva Lok Dal in 1985, then joined the Yuva Janata Dal in 1988 and served as national general secretary.
For the first time in 2000, Kushwaha contested the assembly polls on a JD(U) ticket. He was elected as an MLA from the Jandaha assembly constituency in 2005. He founded the Rashtriya Samata Party in February 2009, which later merged with the JD(U) the same year.
He resigned from the party in 2013 and formed the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Karakat constituency as part of the National Democratic Alliance.
Due to political differences, he left the alliance in 2018 and joined hands with Nitish Kumar. On February 20, 2023, Kushwaha founded the Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD), which was later renamed Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he unsuccessfully contested from Karakat. He was subsequently elected to the Upper House unopposed in August 2024 after a seat was vacated by the BJP’s Vivek Thakur, who was elected as MP from Nawada.