Patna: BJP ally and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituent Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) will split to form a new party - Rashtriya Samata Party Secular (RSPS) - on June 28.

Sri Krishna Memorial Hall in Patna will be the venue for the foundation meeting in which several RLSP leaders, including founder members Vinod Kushwaha, Vijay Kushwaha, Ram Pukar Sinha, will participate.

Though RLSP, which has three MPs, has been faction ridden for the past couple of years with a vertical split between followers of minister of state (MoS) for human resource development (HRD) Upendra Kushwaha and the camp owing allegiance to the party's Jehanabad MP Arun Kumar, the present move comes at a time when the general elections are just nine months away.

Sources in the RLSP said though both the factions are battling out each other before the Election Commission (EC) to get recognised as the main party, Arun is the brain behind the formation of a new party.

"The aim is to have an option in case the EC verdict favours Upendra. The opposite faction headed by Arun and his associates are forming the party as a safety measure in such a scenario," a senior RLSP leader said.

Arun accepted that a new party is being formed, but denied he is going to be a founding member.

"A new party in the name of Rashtriya Samata Party Secular is being formed by former MLC Ajay Singh Almast. It will be a party of the people believing in socialist ideology and those who have been the followers of George Fernandes. RLSP founder leaders Vinod Kushwaha, Vijay Kushwaha and Ram Pukar Sinha will also be a part of it," Arun said.

"I am just an invitee to the formation of the new party and I will be present on the occasion," Arun added.

He said the new party will try to stick to the NDA as majority of its leaders would be the followers of George Fernandes, who himself was with the NDA.