Upendra Kushwaha goes missing from posters of JD(U)

PATNA: JD(U) parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha seems to be getting isolated within his own party for his “silent revolt” against the top leadership. On Thursday, he was found missing from his party posters put up at various locations in the state capital. This happens barely two years after he merged his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) with the JD(U) to return to the party led by Nitish Kumar.

In the posters put up to inform the masses about Maharana Pratap Smriti Samaroh to be organised in the Miller High School ground on January 23, almost all the prominent party leaders, including chief minister Nitish Kumar, national president Lalan Singh, state president Umesh Kushwaha, several ministers and small-time leaders have found the place, but Kushwaha has gone missing from there, triggering various speculations.However, the JD-U rejected any differences at the top level in the party. “No inference should be drawn from these posters. There could have been a printing error. Upendra Kushwaha is an honourable leader of the party,” commented party spokesperson Ranbir Nandan.

Moments after these posters made waves in the political circles, Kushwaha tweeted a photograph of himself lying on a hospital bed at the AIIMS-Delhi with the one-line statement that “I am admitted to AIIMS, Delhi for routine check-up for the next two to three days.” With socks still up, bespectacled Kushwaha appeared a bit tense.

Informed sources said Kushwaha has earned the ire of the top party leadership for going against the party line and showing his party in poor light.

Though what went against him, reports said, was his statement to the media that “I am a kind of player who has been kept seated in the pavilion for the past two years”. He said he wanted to make JD(U) number one party but no efforts are being made to strengthen the organisation. Recently, he claimed he was in the race for the deputy CM, but the CM rubbished his claim.


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