Patna: The NDA event on Thursday was meant to be a show of strength for the BJP-led alliance, but it ended up exposing the chinks.

First, RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha gave the event a miss.

And RLSP national working president Nagmani dropped a bombshell, declaring at the event that the time has come for Nitish Kumar to vacate the chief minister's post as he has served for three terms already.

Nagmani also demanded that the NDA's face in Bihar should be Upendra Kushwaha and the BJP-led alliance should project Kushwaha as the next chief minister.

"Few days back we have heard that few leaders of the JDU and the BJP had given statement in the media that the face of NDA in Bihar would be Nitish Kumar, which is completely wrong. It is not the decision of the NDA's top leadership," Nagmani said.

"He is about to complete 15 years (as chief minister) and he should vacate the post now. He should allow others to rule the state in better ways."

Kushwaha skipping the NDA event does not augur well for the alliance.

There has been speculation that Kushwaha is in touch with the Opposition RJD, which he has however denied.

Recently, Kushwaha had also dropped a bombshell of sorts when he said the NDA must decide soon the seat sharing formula for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The Kushwahas are the biggest bloc in the other backward classes (OBC) after Yadavs.

Nagmani also declared on Thursday that after BJP, the RLSP is the biggest party in Bihar.

The Upendra-as-CM demand is not new. On October 15 last year, the RLSP organised a rally at Gandhi Maidan in which a resolution was passed by the party that all efforts would be taken to make the party chief the next chief minister of Bihar. But the demand being raised at the NDA event has implications.