NEW DELHI: With his party pitching him as NDA's chief ministerial candidate in Bihar, RLSP chief and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha today said delay by BJP in deciding on the issue was "harming" the alliance as RJD-JD(U) combine has kicked off campaign under Nitish Kumar.
He sought a quick decision from the BJP on the leadership issue in the poll-bound state and said if it did not want to project any face, it should make an announcement so that "all kinds of statements" made by leaders of the saffron party and its allies stop as they are detrimental to the NDA's prospects.
Rejecting the charge that his projection as the chief ministerial face was a pressure tactic, Kushwaha told reporters that every party has a right to offer an alternative and it was for BJP-led NDA to take a final call on the issue.
"NDA should sit together at the earliest and take a call on the issue of its chief ministerial candidate. Delay is harming us and more the delay, more the damage. We have not put any condition but only offered an alternative.
"At a time when the opposition alliance (Lalu-Nitish) is speaking in one voice, it is necessary that we also speak in one voice. This alliance has already taken many steps forward. Unless NDA takes a decision, it will be difficult to stop all sorts of comments made by its leaders on the leadership issue," he said.
Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not only the face of BJP but the NDA as well, he said going to Bihar polls under him would be "the best bet".
BJP has so far refrained from projecting any leader as its chief ministerial pick as a section in the party feels that ignoring claims of other aspirants could cost it politically.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi is seen as a natural choice but faces opposition from a section of upper caste state leaders.
However, the party is also wary of fighting the state election in the name of the Prime Minister as an adverse result could dent his image.Kushwaha, who comes from politically significant Koeri (Kushwaha) community among the OBCs, also pushed for 67 seats for his party among in the 243-seat Bihar Assembly which will goes to polls in September-October.
He said BJP should contest 102 seats, the same number it had contested in 2010 when it was the junior partner to JD(U), while Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP should be given 74 seats.
He claimed both the BJP allies were a natural claimant to JD(U)'s vote base.
He, however, insisted that these were all proposals of his party and he was open to negotiation in the NDA meeting on these issues.
Asked why his party had not taken into account former Chief Minister and new BJP ally Jitan Ram Manjhi, he claimed NDA is yet to take a decision on him.
RLSP yesterday passed a resolution demanding that Kushwaha be made NDA's chief ministerial candidate in the poll-bound state.
The resolution was passed at the party's two-day executive meet in Vaishali in Bihar where it also endorsed a proposal to fight in 67 seats in the Assembly election, likely to be held in September-October this year, RLSP chief spokesperson Shivraj Singh told PTI.
