In a major development in Bihar politics, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met Former Union minister and RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha to explore merger possibilities with the Janata Dal (U), reported The Hindu.
Sources told The Hindu that Upendra Kushwaha has held two more meetings with senior JD(U) leaders, and is likely to firm up arrangements for the merger in the next few weeks. "He was earlier insisting on alliance, but with no MLAs that question is moot with no election in sight; therefore a merger is what was discussed,” the source told the Hindu.
This is Kushwaha’s second meeting with Nitish Kumar after the 2020 assembly polls. In December 2020, Upendra Kushwaha had met Nitish Kumar, which fueled speculations about merger of the RLSP with the JD(U).
Interestingly, RLSP fought the Bihar Assembly election as part of an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Mulsimeen and the Jantantrik Party (Socialist), but couldn’t secure a seat. Though Kushwaha's party was unable to win a single seat in the election, its alliance partners, especially AIMIM, put on a good show and won five seats. BSP also managed to bag one seat. Moreover, these parties have cut sizable votes of parties like JD-U, RJD and BJP.
Kushwaha was a name to reckon with in the JD-U until his relation soured with Nitish Kumar. He had resigned from central ministry in 2016 after BJP joined hand with JD-U to form the government in Bihar.
