In another jolt to Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) on Friday, the party’s national vice president Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha on Friday joined the ruling JD(U).
Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha along with his supporters joined the Janta Dal (United) at its party office in the presence of party’s state unit president Bashishtha Narayan Singh, Education Minister Krishnandan Prasad Verma and others.
Bihar: Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) Vice President Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha along with several other workers and leaders joined Janata Dal (United) on Friday in Patna. pic.twitter.com/faHLZdJlBg
— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2018
Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha’s exit is seen as a big setback for the party who is struggling with the rift and rough patches within the Party. Its three legislators- Sudhanshu Shekhar, Lalan Paswan and Sanjeev Shyam Singh (ML), have already announced that they would chart a different path than that of the party head Upendra Kushwaha.
Out of RLSP’s three MPs, Jehanabad MP Arun Kumar is a dissident while Sitamarhi MP Ram Kumar Sharma is with the RLSP chief. Another MP is Upendra Kushwaha himself who has recently joined forces with Congress-led UPA in Bihar.
Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, who had associated with many parties earlier including CPI(ML), RJD, JD(U), Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party, said “I have left the RLSP and joining JD(U) with RLSP’s 35 state-level office-bearers and 1200 workers after Upendra Kushwaha decided to leave NDA and join UPA“.
He said he had joined RLSP to be with NDA as its ally but was Upendra Kushwaha done was not likey by Party’s file and rank. “When I joined the RLSP, my condition was that it should remain with the NDA. What Kushwaha has done (by severing ties with NDA) was not liked by the party’s rank and file. I tried my level best to ensure that Upendra Kushwaha should remain with NDA but he (Upendra) started feeling unease after Nitish Kumar joined the NDA.”
JD(U) welcomed Bhagwan and his supporters into the party fold and said that it would strengthen the party.
Earlier on December 20, Kushwaha joined the UPA Alliance in Bihar. While briefing Media he told his concern for the people of Bihar forms the biggest reason for his decision. Also, he attributed this move to the wholeheartedness shown by Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Yadav.