Upendra Kushwaha denied audience of Amit Shah; meets Sharad Yadav to explore other options

New Delhi, Nov 12: This is the second time when Rashtriya Lok Samata Party president and Union minister of state for human resource development Upendra Kushwaha has been denied audience of Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah.

Last time he had to get contended by meeting party general secretary Bhupendra Yadav but this time round he has been asked that he would be informed. Actually Kushwaha wants to complain about Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar but the actual issue is seat sharing for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. So Kushwaha has met with former Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav.

The RLSP leader is insisting for three Lok Sabha seats in Bihar as it had contested in the last Lok Sabha elections and also wants one more seat from Chatra in Jharkhand while the party has been clearly told that they would be given just two seats in Bihar nothing more. So Kushwaha wants to give this message to people that he tried every attempt before splitting from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and meanwhile he is exploring all possible options.

This seems to be becoming a battle of nerves being fought in Bihar among the NDA partners. Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had jointly announced contesting the similar number of seats in the state and as per sources indicated LJP will be given six seats while the RLSP two seats. There is also a possibility that the BJP and JD (U) jointly send LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan to the Rajya Sabha.

Sources said that both the bigger partners in the state are not ready to concede anything beyond this to either to the LJP or to the RLSP. But war of words between friends turned foes Nitish Kumar and Upendra Kushwaha is continuing and Kushwaha wanted to complain about Nitish with Amit Shah. Kushwaha does not have any problem with the BJP leadership but he does not to see Nitish Kumar eye to eye. So both the leaders are looking for an opportunity to part ways.

Sources said that the BJP-JD (U) are not ready to linger this issue on for any more and Shah denying audience is a clear indication that Kushwaha must take a call on option given to him. So if he makes up his mind for two seats he is here to stay in NDA if he doesn't then he is already exploring options suitable for him.