'Garden doesn't lose splendour over few wilted flowers': Kushwaha on JD(U) inducting RLM leader

Patna: A quibble arose in the NDA in Bihar on Saturday when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) re-inducted into the party a former MLA who was occupying the top post in ally Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).

Ramesh Singh Kushwaha, who had represented Ziradei assembly seat in Siwan district from 2015 to 2020 as a JD(U) MLA, returned to the party along with his wife Vijay Laxmi, fuelling speculations that either of them could be fielded in the Lok Sabha polls.

JD(U) national general secretary Sanjay Kumar Jha said that the couple had met the chief minister, who is also the JD(U)'s national president, a day ago.

He, however, evaded a direct comment on Kushwaha's possible candidature from Siwan Lok Sabha seat where rumours are afloat that the JD(U) may drop its sitting MP Kavita Singh, an upper caste Rajput, in favour of someone who may help the party keep intact its core support base of 'Luv Kush', a term used to describe Kurmis and Koeris (Kushwahas), the two most dominant non-Yadav OBC groups in Bihar.

"It is our party president's prerogative to decide Lok Sabha candidates. As of now, no name has been finalised," Jha claimed.

However, former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, who had floated Rashtriya Lok Morcha last year after quitting the JD(U), trained his guns at the chief minister's party.

In a post on X, he sought to pacify 'party workers enraged over our state president joining another party' by reminding them of a poem by Harivansh Rai Bachchan that spoke of the garden not losing its splendour on account of 'a few wilted flowers'.

Kushwaha, who is likely to contest from Karakat, the lone seat assigned to his party, also added, tongue-in-cheek, "I request my friends in JD(U) to let me know if they need a few more candidates."

Meanwhile, senior minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, a former state president of the JD(U), who was present at the party office alongside Sanjay Jha at the time of the couple's induction, rejected the charge that they were 'weakening' an alliance partner.

Chaudhary said, "The NDA is a single unit. But sometimes, a worker of one party may be accommodated elsewhere for bringing maximum benefit to the alliance."

Asked about the delay in the party announcing candidates for the 16 seats it would be contesting, as per the formula announced by the NDA in Delhi earlier this week, Chaudhary asserted, "It will be known to you all in less than 24 hours."

Jha, who represented the JD(U) at the Delhi press conference where the NDA's seat-sharing in Bihar was announced, also indicated that after having jointly announced seat-sharing arrangements, parties in the NDA in Bihar were likely to declare their respective candidates separately.

Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP has got a lion's share of 17. Besides, Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has got five seats.

Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is contesting Gaya, the lone seat assigned to his Hindustani Awam Morcha. Upendra Kushwaha, whose absence at the Delhi press conference had raised many eyebrows, later dismissed suggestions that he was upset over getting a raw deal and disclosed that besides Karakat, his party has been given assurance of a legislative council berth.