The Janata Dal (United)’s estranged leader and its Parliamentary Board chairperson, Upendra Kushwaha, is set to announce his break-up with the party and float his new outfit on Monday. There is barely any possibility that Kushwaha may revive his erstwhile party, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), which he had merged with the JD (U) in March 2021. The 63-year-old former Union minister, Kushwaha is holding a convention of his supporters during February 19-20 in Patna, which would see a turnout of his faction’s workers from various parts of Bihar, including districts like Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, Patna, Nalanda and Bhojpur. Sources said Kushwaha has been considering to give his new party a name similar to the JD (U) that could showcase the socialist ideology. He might also quit as the JD (U) MLC soon. This will be the third occasion since 2009 when Kushwaha quits the JD(U). He has been in a sulk ever since Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar announced over two months ago that Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav would lead their Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in the 2025 state Assembly polls. A prominent OBC leader, Kushwaha, who aspired to emerge as Nitish’s successor, has been weighing his options after finding little space for himself within the JD(U) following its alliance with the RJD last August and the CM’s subsequent endorsement of Tejashwi’s leadership. Kushwaha has been aggressively targeting Nitish and other JD(U) leaders for several weeks, who have also returned the fire. He has been seeking a new political alignment in state politics now. Sources close to Kushwaha as well as the BJP said he will form a new party, which would ally with the latter in the 2025 polls. Kushwaha had been a BJP’s ally and a Union minister during the Narendra Modi-led NDA government 1.0. Another reason for Kushwaha’s bid to chart a new political course may be linked to his plan to contest from the Karakat seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He had won this seat as an NDA ally in the 2014 polls, but lost in 2019 when his party RLSP was neither with the NDA nor the Mahagathbandhan. Karakat, currently represented by the JD (U)'s Mahabali Singh, would throw up an absorbing contest if Kushwaha fights from there as an NDA nominee. The BJP, which decided during its recent state executive meeting against aligning with Nitish ever, has been looking to form a new alliance in Bihar in which leaders of smaller parties such as Kushwaha, Chirag Paswan of the LJP (Ramvilas) and Mukesh Sahani of Vikassheel Insaan Party could be roped in as partners. The BJP is expected to bet on Kushwaha amid some indications of Nitish’s core support base shrinking, which was reflected in the outcome of the recent state bypolls in which the BJP won two seats. In the 2020 Assembly polls, Kushwaha’s RLSP might not have won any seat, but it was said to have been responsible for the JD (U)'s defeat in more than a dozen seats by splitting its votes. Kushwaha had started his political innings with the Lok Dal led by ex-CM late Karpoori Thakur. He was later mentored by Nitish, and went on to become the Leader of the Opposition. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Kushwaha has been among a select group of the Bihar leaders who have represented all the four Houses — the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Assembly and Council.
