BJP ally stakes claim to Bihar CM’s post
RLSP says backward caste candidate Kushwaha could be best man to take on Nitish Kumar
The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), a key ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), yesterday staked a formal claim for the post of the chief ministership in a peculiar twist to the ongoing battle for the top job within the National Democratic Alliance.
The Bihar elections are scheduled to be held in September-October.
The RLSP declared Upendra Kushwaha, party chief and federal minister of state for human resources development, the chief ministerial face of the party at its twoday state executive meet that concluded here yesterday. The meeting also demanded a prominent backward caste candidate be projected as NDA’s CM candidate believing he could be the best face against Nitish Kumar who has been declared as the candidate of the secular alliance for the post of chief minister.
The BJP reacted angrily saying only it held claim over the post by virtue of being the largest party. “The BJP, being the biggest coalition partner of the NDA, holds natural claim over the CM’s post,” remarked BJP parliamentarian Ashwini Choube. He added the party’s parliamentary board would decide on the issue. Another senior leader and federal agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh too said any decision over the CM candidate would be taken only by the BJP parliamentary board.
Open claim
The RLSP’s open claim for the post of chief minister comes barely five days after the BJP announced it would not project anyone as the chief ministerial candidate of the party in the upcoming state polls; instead, it will contest the elections banking on the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The BJP will contest the elections in the name of prime minister Modi who stands for good governance and development, while Lalu Prasad-Nitish Kumar symbolise Jungle Raj,” BJP’s Bihar poll in-charge and federal minister Anant Kumar had told the media last week, adding he was fully confident the masses would embrace the “good governance agenda”.