Kushwaha re-elected RLSP chief

BATTLING REBELLION by one of his party’s three MPS and one of its two MLAS, Union minister Upendra Kushwaha was reelected the national president of the RLSP Sunday. The party’s national general convention also passed resolutions unveiling its plans to expand beyond Bihar and contest elections in UP.

However, rebel MP Arun Kumar, who was suspended by the Kushwaha faction earlier, dubbed the former’s re-election as national president as “unconstitutional” and “fake” and threatened to approach the Election Commission demanding annulment of this decision.

“For last three years, the national council was not happening and no election took place. Kushwaha has done it in a haste to establish his authority. He is claiming that elections from panchayat to national council level were held for the party. How can that be possible in this short span of time. We are the real RLSP” Kumar told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, a press release issued after the meeting by party leader Fazal Imam Mallick said Kushwaha was appointed unopposed as he was the lone candidate for the post of national president. He claimed that party delegates from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradhes, Kerala, Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, participated in the council meet.

A week ago, Kushwaha had namedbhudeochoudharyasthe party’s Bihar unit chief in a state council meeting in Patna, a decision dubbed as illegal by the rival faction, which claimed that the party had removed Kushwaha from the post of national president at a meeting on August 17 andappointedarunkumarasthe new party chief. On August 19, Kushwaha’s party, an ally of the NDA, had suspended MP Arun Kumar and MLA Lalan Paswan.

UP CABINET EXPANSION TODAY