'The JD-U is my party and of thousands of leaders and workers.'
'It is certainly not Nitish Kumar's party.'
Till December 2022, former Union minister and senior Janata Dal-United leader Upendra Kushwaha used to loudly defend Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Kushwaha, 63, an old associate of Nitish Kumar, 71, since the days of the Samata Party in the mid-1990s, now misses no opportunity to embarrass the JD-U supremo.
There is a buzz in political circles that Kushwaha may leave the JD-U and join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar ahead of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha polls followed by state assembly polls in 2025.
Upset over being sidelined in the JD-U after he merged his Rashtriya Lok Samta Party in 2021, Kushwaha has been raising issues daily and daring Nitish Kumar to explain.
This has not gone down well with the chief minister who asked him to leave the JD-U as he did thrice in the past.
Kushwaha, a nominated JD-U MLC, belongs to the powerful OBC Koeri caste, the largest social group after the Yadavs in Bihar's caste-ridden political terrain.
In his political career of over three decades, Kushwaha, a college teacher turned politician, has won elections twice and has been defeated about seven times.
He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and the Bihar legislative council by Nitish Kumar, who also helped him to become leader of the Opposition once.
"There is no question of leaving the party, I am in the JD-U and will continue in the party. It is not a party of any individual or Nitish Kumar," Kushwaha tells Rediff.com Senior Contributor M I Khan in Patna.
The first of a two-part interview:
After publicly defending and supporting Nitish Kumar for nearly 22 months on all issues after you merged your party with the JD-U, you have been targeting him like a rebel leader in recent weeks.
Why this sudden change?
I am not a rebel, it is wrong to use this word for me. I am a JD-U worker and expressing my feelings for thousands of party workers who can't say anything.
If I see the party weakening, it is my duty to raise the alarm.
I had alerted him (Nitish Kumar) of a conspiracy to weaken him and the party, but he has turned blind eye to it.
I am very much in the party (the JD-U), trying to strengthen and save it.
My intention is simple and clear -- to save the party. The JD-U is my party and of thousands of leaders and workers. This is not a party of any individual.
It is certainly not Nitish Kumar's party.
It is true that after April 2021 when I merged my party Rashtriya Lok Samata Party with the JD-U, I have been working to provide strength to the party (JD-U) and Nitish Kumar, who is a big face of it.
I had defended and supported Nitish Kumar if anyone dared to attack, challenge or defame him.
But in recent months when the JD-U was weakened, I personally told Nitish Kumar to take immediate action to strengthen and save the party. Unfortunately, he has ignored my concern.
What has upset me and thousands of party workers like me about talks of a JD-U merger with the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal).
It was I who first opposed it soon after this issue surfaced few months ago.
But Nitish Kumar has refuted your remarks that the JD-U has weakened and says the party has become stronger now than before.
He mentioned that the JD-U membership has increased to 75 lakh.
Nitish Kumar is saying this on the feedback given by some leaders around him, he will realise his mistake sooner or later.
These leaders close to him give him only a good picture, far from the ground reality.
Nitish Kumar is not speaking his own mind. He is working and speaking as per the wishes of a coterie around him.
After you raised some questions in January regarding a special deal between your party, the JD-U, with the RJD for formation of a Mahagathbandhan government last August, Nitish Kumar reacted, saying those who keep speaking like this go to the BJP and you are free to stay, quit or go wherever you want.
After some RJD leaders claimed there was a deal, I, being a JD-U worker, demanded JD-U national president Lalan Singh and Nitish Kumar to reveal the deal as every worker has the right to know about it.
I have been saying reveal the 'deal' that was made with the RJD for the formation of the Mahagathbandhan government.
Several RJD leaders keep saying that if a deal was made with the JD-U, the party should come out with the deal at least within the party and inform the workers and leaders.
But Lalan Singh has clarified that there was no such special deal and no talk of a merger.
My agenda is one and only -- to strengthen the JD-U. As a party worker I want a strong party to provide a platform to thousands of those who see their future in the JD-U.
If the JD-U has not weakened, why has Nitish Kumar been promoting (Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader) Tejashwi Yadav as the leader of the Mahagathbandhan for the 2025 Bihar assembly to become next CM.
He should promote a party leader (JD-U) belonging to the marginalised sections to emerge as the leader in place of Tejashwi.
Promoting Tejashwi as the next CM is neither encouraging for the party nor sending a good political message for the future of the party.
Are you really not going to quit the JD-U?
I have been repeating it time and again -- I am in the JD-U and will continue here.
There is no question of joining the BJP. I have no lust for power and position.
It is in the public domain that I renounced my berth in the Rajya Sabha and resigned from the Union Cabinet for the cause of issues close to my heart.
I am still open to meeting and talking to Nitish Kumar if he will invite me because my main concern is the party.
I am still hopeful that if he acts as per his own will, he will save the party.
- Part 2: 'JD-U is weakening from inside'
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
