No rift in NDA over seat-sharing: RLSP

PATNA: Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) president Upendra Kushwaha on Monday denied any rift in the NDA over the seat-sharing issue for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“There is neither dispute nor difference of any kind on seat sharing. It is the media that is creating confrontation,” Kushwaha said and added that his “kheer party” would be held on Tuesday at the Panchayat Parishad building.“It is symbolic, aimed at bringing together all sections of society,” he reiterated. He also announced zonal conferences of the RLSP from early next month over the demand for greater representation to people from the poor and weaker sections in the higher judiciary comprising the Supreme Court and the high courts.
When asked about the reported proposal for 20:20 formula among the NDA partners to contest the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, Kushwaha said he never played cricket and was not able to comment on the 20:20 format. “I played gilli-danda in my childhood days,” he said on speculation that BJP may contest 20 seats while leaving 20 for its allies with 12 to JD(U), 6 to LJP and 2 to the RLSP.
There was speculation about the RLSP’s next move after its working president and former Union minister Nagmani said last week that his party was being sidelined within the NDA as the BJP chief Amit Shah held talks only with JD(U) president and CM Nitish Kumar on the seat-sharing issue in Delhi. He went to the extent of saying that the BJP was forcing the RLSP to move to the RJD-led Grand Alliance in the state. RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has already extended invitation to Kushwaha to join the Grand Alliance.
Nagmani also said the BJP was giving undue weight to Nitish who had only 2% support of the core vote (read Kurmi caste population) against around 10% of the Kushwaha (Koeri) votes with the RLSP chief.
“As far as I am concerned, we are in the NDA. What others have said on the seat-sharing matter, I am not overly concerned about it,” Kushwaha said.
When reminded about the hush-hush talks that Kushwaha had become a problem for the NDA and also that he was upset because the JD(U) was being given more “weight” by the BJP, the Union minister retorted, “Have I become a problem? I don’t think so. As to my political weight, I don’t have any.”
However, it has become clear that Nitish has seized the initiative in holding the seat-sharing talks with Shah. The Bihar CM also held talks with Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan, leading to speculation that a cornered Kushwaha might join the Grand Alliance.