In a huge setback to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ahead of the 2024 general elections, Janata Dal (United) leader Upendra Kushwaha on Monday resigned from all party positions and launched a new political party, the Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal. Kushwaha, who has been at loggerheads with Nitish for quite some time, said the chief minister was acting as per the suggestions of people around him.
"We've decided to form a new party - Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal. This has been decided unanimously. I've been made its national president. The party will take forward the legacy of Karpoori Thakur. We'll work towards rejecting the agreement made with RJD," Kushwaha said at a press conference in Patna.
The former Union minister, however, kept cards close to the chest on the issue of realigning with the BJP-led NDA, with the sarcastic remark, "I have learnt a few lessons from my big brother, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had resigned from his post citing differences with the RJD, only to form a new government (with BJP) hours later".
Kushwaha said Nitish did well in the beginning, but now the path on which he started walking is bad for both him and Bihar, an apparent reference to the JD(U)'s alliance with the RJD. He said before the alliance, he had asked the chief minister to keep the leadership of the alliance in his own hands to prevent the old situation from returning.
“I was assured of the same. Days after forging an alliance, Nitish Kumar said that he wants to give the responsibility of Bihar to the RJD leader. He announced the name of an RJD leader as the next chief minister of Bihar, because of which we were worried about the future of Bihar," Kushwaha said.
