New Delhi: Union minister Upendra Kushwaha has resigned from the Narendra Modi cabinet and parted ways with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after a prolonged battle with the BJP over seat-sharing for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“Having served in your council of ministers for last 55 months, I stand dejected and betrayed by your leadership. There has been fundamental problem in what you promised to the people before elections and what you have actually delivered after coming to power,” reads the Kushwaha’s resignation letter to PM Modi.
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The Rashtriya Lok Shakti Party (RLSP) chief’s move comes on a day the BJP is holding a meeting with other alliance partners in show of strength to rival the grand meeting called by the opposition parties.
Kushwaha targeted both PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah and said the priority of the government was not to work for the poor but to “fix political opponents by hook or crook”. “Investigative agencies are being controlled by your office and the BJP president with the sole purpose of harassing leaders with contrarian views,” the letter added.
Addressing reporters in the afternoon, Kushwaha cited that lack of special status for Bihar as the reason for calling it quits. “Narendra Modi ji couldn’t meet expectations of the people of Bihar. Nothing was done for special status. Bihar is still where it was earlier. Education and health system is non-existent,” he said.
Kushwaha had been sulking ever since the BJP and the JD(U) reached an agreement that the two parties would contest 17 seats each in Bihar, where the total number of constituencies is 40.
As per the tentative arrangement, the RLSP was to be given two seats, one less than the number it had fought on and won in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Kushwaha had himself won from Karakat. The party’s third MP Arun Kumar from Jehanabad had been suspended from the RLSP two years ago.
Before launching an all-out attack on the BJP, Kushwaha had urged the party to come up with a “respectable” seat-sharing formula by November 30.
“Kushwaha is likely to announce his parting of ways with the BJP today at 2pm. He will also quit as a Union minister,” a senior RLSP leader said.
The RLSP may join hands with the opposition, which includes Lalu Prasad’s RJD and the Congress.