As expected, former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha Monday quit the Janata Dal (United) and formed his new party called Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD). Breaking up with the JD(U), Kushwaha, 63, said he could not have allowed Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) supremo Nitish Kumar to "mortgage political legacies of socialists to those responsible for the state's backwardness" in what was a clear reference to Kumar's bid to join hands with Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to form their Mahagathbandhan government after walking out of the BJP-led NDA in August last year. Kushwaha also gave hints about his new party's likely alliance with the NDA in the coming days, acknowledging that he had also learnt "certain things from my elder brother Nitish Kumar". The JD(U)'s estranged Parliamentary Board chairman, Kushwaha resigned from its primary membership while also declaring his resignation as the party's MLC, saying he was not a leader who would want to become "ameer (prosperous)" by selling his "zameer (conscience)". This is the third time since 2009 when Kushwaha quit the JD(U). After leaving the party for the first time, he had joined the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He later went on to float the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), which allied with the NDA in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and won all three seats it then contested in Bihar. Announcing his new party RLJD, Kushwaha said: "Nitish Kumar was perhaps misled by some people who had nothing to do with socialist ideology and legacy. JD (U) had deviated from the path shown by socialist icon Karpoori Thakur. When I rejoined JD (U) in 2021 on the call of Nitish Kumar, I believed that we socialists should stick together." Kushwaha said he regretted that Nitish had tied up with the RJD and later indicated that RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav would be his successor by announcing that the latter would be the face of the Mahagathbandhan in the 2025 state Assembly polls. "It was like mortgaging your political property to a neighbour. He (Nitish) did not like my face, nor any EBC leader's face, who could carry forward his legacy. Earlier, I used to ask for my share from Nitish Kumar but now I realise that he had nothing. I want to free our mortgaged property from the people's court," he said, adding that this political legacy would be shared among Luv-Kush (Kurmi-Koeri), EBCs, Dalits and progressive upper caste people with socialist leanings. Asked whether he has already an arrangement with the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kushwaha said, "Nitish Kumar has gone on to say that I had alignment with BJP. Now, whether I have aligned with BJP or not, let me say that I have also learnt certain things from my elder brother Nitish Kumar." He was referring to Nitish's 2017 U-turn when the latter did not let anyone know about his realignment with the BJP until the last moment. Commenting on the development, senior Bihar BJP leader and ex-Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said: "Upendra Kushwaha quitting JD (U) marks the reverse counting towards end of the JD (U) as a political identity. Kushwaha's departure shows that Nitish Kumar had not taken his party into confidence before declaring Tejashwi as his political successor. After all, Tejashwi is son of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi under whose rule, Bihar had become badlands." Hitting back, RJD national spokesperson Subodh Kumar Mehta said: "Upendra Kushwaha's fake coating of being a socialist has been exposed again. If one looks at Kushwaha's political journey of over two decades, one would realise that he has done politics of selfishness and has crushed political career of several budding and talented workers because of his personal ambitions." JD(U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi said: "What can one say about unprincipled politics? Had not Kushwaha wanted to align with RJD before 2020 Assembly polls? I would love to discuss stalwarts like Acharya Narendra Dev, Rammanohar Lohia and Karpoori Thakur, but current politics pains me. However, Nitish Kumar is still the biggest torch-bearer of the legacy of Lohia and Karpoori and he must be lauded for working for the unity of the national Opposition.”
