Will attend NDA meet, received invitation a day ago: Kushwaha

Patna, Jul 17 (PTI) Former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha on Monday said there was “no alternative” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and admitted that he will be in Delhi to attend the NDA meet on July 18.

The Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal founder announced on Twitter that he had received invitation for the meeting “yesterday itself”, hours after evading the issue during an interaction with journalists here.

“Some people should refrain from spreading needless rumours. I will be there at the NDA meet tomorrow, having received the invitation yesterday itself”, he tweeted in Hindi.

Kushwaha, who had quit Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) a few months ago to float his own party, said, “Everything does not need to be disclosed in the media”.

Besides Kushwaha, a couple of other small parties in the state, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), have confirmed having received invitation from BJP president JP Nadda for the meeting where the PM is likely to be present.

Kushwaha, who floated the RLSP in 2013 and merged the party with JD(U) eight years later, fought the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as an NDA partner and became a minister in the first Narendra Modi administration.

He quit JD(U), giving up his membership of the legislative council, in protest against Kumar virtually declaring Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, who belongs to the RJD, as his political successor.

When Kushwaha’s views were sought on the opposition meet in Bengaluru, he said, “In 2024, I see no alternative to Narendra Modi. His closest rivals seem to be so far behind”.

Asked whether he was referring to Kumar, who has initiated the opposition unity drive, or Rahul Gandhi, the Congress’ de facto leader, Kushwaha said, “I am not talking about individuals. But all these party seem to have no other agenda except defeating Modi. This is the sole agenda and it cannot resonate with voters.”

Asked about speculations that Kumar may be made convener of the opposition coalition, the disgruntled former aide said, “Not much has been left for imagination after RJD chief Lalu Prasad has likened the formation to a wedding procession in which Rahul Gandhi was the groom.”

At the June 23 meeting hosted by Kumar in Patna, Prasad had asked Gandhi, who is in his early 50s, to get married and said all those present at the conclave would love to be a part of the “baraat”.

Notably, following Kumar’s exit, the NDA has been left in tatters in Bihar where it had won all but one of the 40 Lok Sabha seats and where it now must pick up the threads to take on the Mahagathbandhan which comprises Congress, JD(U), RJD and the Left.