Upendra Kushwaha quits as Union minister, writes to PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Minister of state for HRD and leader of NDA constituent Rashtriya Lok Samata Party Upendra Kushwaha quit the government and the BJP-led alliance on Monday, unleashing an attack on PM Modi and expressing willingness to join the Lalu Prasad-led opposition alliance in Bihar.In his resignation letter, Kushwaha accused the PM of reducing the cabinet to a “rubber stamp” and “betraying backward classes” and Bihar with rhetoric or jumlas. “It (NDA) won’t be able to open its account in the state this time,” Kushwaha claimed, alleging that the government was “fixing” political opponents and implementing the RSS’s agenda.The development caused no surprise because of BJP’s studied indifference towards the RLSP leader’s public lament that he had been given short shrift.The junior HRD minister joined the NDA before the 2014 polls after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar , his mentor-turned-adversary, left the alliance. The decision paid off as the Modi wave helped RLSP win all three seats it contested — a performance which landed him an MoS berth in the central ministry.However, matters turned rough for him after Kumar’s return to NDA, rendering RLSP’s presence in the coalition untenable. The former minister tried to project himself as a “loyal” ally while painting Kumar as an “opportunist”, but this did not cut much ice with a hard-nosed BJP leadership which was willing to gloss over the Bihar CM’s defection because of the value he brings to the NDA.In the 2015 assembly elections, Kumar, in alliance with Lalu, had triumphed over the BJP-led alliance by enlisting the support of Kushwahas — the community the RLSP leader represents.The agreement between BJP and JD(U) to contest an equal number of Lok Sabha seats shrunk the options for Kushwaha as he faced the dire prospect of RLSP getting just one seat, his own, to contest. He is likely to be accommodated in the RJD-led alliance. “People believed ‘achchhe din’ will come. It did not happen. Bihar remains where it was,” Kushwaha said.