Patna: Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, who has kept political camps guessing on which way he will go in 2019, on Thursday set tongues wagging yet again by saying someone in the NDA did not want to see Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.
Kushwaha, the chief of NDA ally Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), has been taking potshots at chief minister Nitish Kumar over the past few weeks and political sources suggested that even this time, his target was his erstwhile mentor.
The minister's comment came in response to a query from reporters on the purported "20:20" seat sharing formula that has been floated by the NDA for the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar. Under this formula, which has been denied by deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, the BJP is to get 20 seats while the allies would have to share the remaining between them: JDU-12, LJP-5, RLSP-2 and an RLSP rebel-turned-Independent will be given one berth.
"I know the news of seat sharing in the NDA is fake but one thing I can say with full responsibility is that there are some people within the NDA who do not want to see Narendra Modi ji as the Prime Minister," Kushwaha said in the party office here while talking to reporters.
Asked who these persons were, Kushwaha refused to name anyone, adding that the people will come to know at the "appropriate time".
When a reporter pressed him if that person is from the JDU, LJP, BJP or the RLSP itself, Kushwaha reiterated that it is "an NDA leader", but refused to go into specifics.
However, RLSP sources said Kushwaha's target was Nitish.
"Upendra Kushwaha has political ambitions and he has an eye on the chief minister's chair. Our leader is upset that Nitish's party has just two MPs but is being given more importance than him. That is why our leader has taken the line that the NDA should project another chief ministerial face," a senior RLSP leader close to Kushwaha told The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.
Over the past few months, Kushwaha has often taken jibes at Nitish. In June he skipped an NDA dinner and said that Nitish should not be the chief ministerial face.
Earlier this month, Kushwaha slammed the Nitish regime for the deterioration in law and order following the murder of an RLSP leader in Vaishali.
And last Saturday he touched off speculation on a political realignment by saying that milk (associated with Yadavs, the RJD's traditional votebank) and rice (a reference to Kushwahas, who are in the main agriculturists) would mingle well to form a delectable kheer.
Kushwaha on Friday sought to cash in on this political ambivalence by announcing the launch of a new programme of the party christened Paigam-E-Kheer from September 25, in Patna.
Under the programme, people from all castes, including those from the minority community, would be brought under one umbrella.
"It is the not that kheer regarding which you formed your own opinions a few days ago. This kheer means people from all communities and castes. Kheer would be prepared from the milk of Yaduvanshi, rice of Kushwansi, sugar of Brahmins, panchmeva from EBCs, tulsi from the house of Dalits to make it pious and dastarkhan from the homes of Muslims which does not differentiate between the poor and rich and accords equal importance to everyone," Kushwaha said.
