Kushwaha rules out RLM-BJP merger amid cloud over son’s ministerial fate

Patna: The future of minister Deepak Prakash remains uncertain, but his father and Rajya Sabha member Upendra Kushwaha on Thursday ruled out any merger of his Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) with the BJP. Kushwaha, who attended the NDA meeting in Delhi on Wednesday to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi on becoming the longest-serving head of the central govt, said the BJP leadership would decide Deepak’s future as a minister, while reaffirming that the RLM remains part of the NDA.

The uncertainty deepened after candidates for all 10 vacant legislative council seats were elected unopposed on Wednesday, with Deepak failing to secure a berth. Deepak, who was sworn in for a second time as a minister in May in chief minister Samrat Choudhary’s cabinet, is not a member of either House of the legislature. Under constitutional provisions, he must become an MLA or MLC within six months of taking oath to continue as a minister.

After the BJP did not accommodate Deepak in the council elections, the RLM circulated a letter from then BJP state president Dilip Kumar Jaiswal. The letter referred to a promise of six Assembly seats and one legislative council seat as part of an arrangement before the Assembly elections last Nov. Kushwaha declined further comment, saying the matter was already in the public domain.

Revenue and land reforms department minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal said Kushwaha had subsequently been sent to the Rajya Sabha. “During the seat-sharing talks in the NDA, the central leadership promised certain things regarding the MLA and MLC seats. But, in the meantime, Kushwaha ji became a member of the Rajya Sabha. Then a different kind of development occurred in politics. I can’t tell you about this because I was no longer the BJP state president,” Jaiswal said.

RLM has four MLAs, including Kushwaha’s wife Snehlata.