Shah, Kushwaha to meet over seats in Delhi tomorrow

PATNA: Amid the last minute parleys for seat-sharing among NDA allies in state for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday invited RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha for a one-on-one meeting with him in New Delhi on Monday.

Kushwaha, who met RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav at Arwal on Friday after Shah’s announcement that the BJP and JD (U) will contest equal number of seats in state, on Saturday said his party would continue to be a part of NDA. “The NDA has not yet reached a consensus as far as seat-sharing in state for Lok Sabha elections is concerned. I have also talked to Amit Shah ji. Deliberations are still on and I can’t say anything right now,” Kushwaha told reporters in Nalanda.

RLSP national general secretary Madhaw Anand told TOI that Shah and Kushwaha had a telephonic conversation on Saturday. “Shah asked our party president to meet him in New Delhi on Sunday. However, since Kushwaha ji has some prior engagements, he will reach New Delhi on Sunday evening and meet Shah on Monday,” Anand added.

Kushwaha had created ripples in political circles with his ‘kheer’ theory on August 25. “Kheer can be made with milk from Yadavs and rice from Kushwahas,” he had said. The RLSP has been demanding at least three Lok Sabha seats in state. In 2014 general elections also, the party had contested on three seats.

Meanwhile, RLSP working president Nagmani on Saturday expressed anguish over the 50:50 seat-sharing formula for BJP and JD (U) in state.

“NDA will have to face repercussions if the 50:50 formula materialises. The BJP should acknowledge the fact that JD (U)’s vote share in state is mere 1.5%. The party, however, is still demanding 16-17 of 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. RLSP has 10% vote share in the state, but it is still being given just 2-3 seats. Our party is not a slave to any other party as we have our own mass reach in the state. If the party is denied respectable number of seats, it will think about its future course of action,” Nagmani said, adding people of the state are in favour of seeing Kushwaha and Tejashwi together.


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