Tejashwi claims meeting with Kushwaha was 'coincidental'

PATNA: The assembly between Union minister and RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha and Tejashwi Yadav on Friday was once "coincidental", the RJD leader stated, including that people were "free to draw their own conclusions".

A picture of the assembly between the two leaders in Bihar's Arwal district previous in the day was once shared by means of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on its WhatsApp group triggering speculation of discontent inside the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) grouping in the state.

It specifically assumed importance as it came simply hours after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah announced a seat-sharing formula in the state for Lok Sabha elections.

"People are free to draw their own conclusions. I can only say that the meeting was not pre-planned. It was a coincidence that he and I were at the Circuit House at the same time and hence it was natural for us to exchange pleasantries," Yadav, the previous deputy leader minister, stated.

"It is probably the first time that I have met Kushwaha in person. As far as prospects of his joining our grand alliance is concerned, we have invited him to do so long ago and the invitation stands. It is for him to accept it or ignore it," the leader of opposition in Bihar meeting stated.

Speculations have been rife for quite some time that the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader would possibly gravitate in opposition to the grand alliance which at the present contains the RJD, the Congress and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha.

Yadav additionally accused the BJP of neglecting "trusted allies" like Ram Vilas Paswan and Kushwaha as a way to woo an "undependable" Nitish Kumar.

"The BJP had won 22 out of 40 seats in Bihar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Its willingness to treat Kumar as an equal partner, whose JD(U) had won only two seats and lost its deposit in most, shows the desperation on the part of Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the leader of the opposition in the state meeting instructed newshounds here.

"Moreover, the meeting between Shah and Kumar gives the impression that the BJP has made up its mind to go with the JD(U) chief, who is undependable having cheated both, them and us, and give a short shrift to Paswan and Kushwaha, who have been firmly with the NDA," he stated.

Amit Shah instructed newshounds in New Delhi that an announcement at the choice of seats of NDA allies in Bihar, including Kushwaha's RLSP and Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), might be declared in two-three days.

To a query about whether or not Kushwaha, whose equation with Kumar is far from cordial, will stay a part of the NDA, Shah replied in affirmative and asserted the alliance will do higher than the ultimate polls when it had received 31 seats.

"All four parties will remain part of the NDA," he stated.

The RJD has been claiming that Kushwaha will go away the NDA and join the Grand Alliance following in the footsteps of Manjhi, who had give up the BJP-led coalition in February this 12 months. Kushwaha, then again, maintained that he is with the NDA.

Like Manjhi, Kushwaha is a former JD(U) leader, who had formed his personal celebration after falling out with Nitish Kumar and joined the NDA when the Bihar leader minister was once out of the BJP-led coalition.

Kumar's return to the NDA ultimate 12 months was once understood to have led to a lot of consternation a few of the likes of Kushwaha and Manjhi.