Union minister Upendra Kushwaha has quit National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Monday amid disagreements over seat sharing for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party had said that Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) will not be receiving more than two seats for the 2019 general elections.
He also resigned as the Minister of State for Human Resource Development. Kushwaha announced the decision after saying that he will not be attending the meeting held by BJP and its allies on Monday.
It is rumoured that he is set to join hands with the Congress and its allies including Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD.
According to reports, Kushwaha felt that he was getting the short end of the deal when it came to seat sharing after the BJP joined hands with Nitish Kumar's JD(U).
Kushwaha's exit has put on a lid on weeks of speculation that the union minister was not happy with the workings of the ruling party. The announcement comes a day before the commencement of the winter session of the Parliament.
In November, Kushwaha had given the BJP a deadline of November 30 to come to a resolution regarding seat sharing.
"It would be very harmful for the NDA if a decision on seat-sharing is not taken soon. We must get a respectful number of seats," the ex-union minister was quoted as saying by PTI.
Last week, RLSP had released a statement that it is not the role of political parties to interfere with the building of mosques and temples.
According to NDTV, the statement read, "We are not opposed to construction of mosques and temples. But this is not the function of political parties and their meddling in such matters causes tensions in the society and diverts the attention of the public from real issues."
RLSP entered into an alliance with the NDA before the 2014 general assembly elections where the former won three seats while the BJP won 22.
The Opposition which Kushwaha might join is holding a special meeting today to chart its course to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and take out the ruling BJP from the Centre.
