As soon as he started his new innings as a Rajya Sabha member, the tone of Rashtriya Lok Morcha president and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha has started changing. After taking oath as an MP, Upendra Kushwaha is coming to Patna on 11 September. On the seat sharing in the 2025 Bihar assembly elections within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Upendra Kushwaha has said in Delhi that the formula of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha is different. Kushwaha said that the Lok Sabha formula has caused harm, so it will be improved in future.
Upendra Kushwaha said in Delhi- “The formula for Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha is always different. And, the formula for Lok Sabha has caused some harm. So, people correct things based on past experiences. Therefore, corrections will be made.” Time will tell how Kushwaha’s statement will be taken in future, but it is clear from his attitude that he will not be ready to agree on seat sharing in Vidhan Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA in Bihar currently includes Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU), Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party- Ram Vilas (LJP-R), Pashupati Paras’ Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha himself. Six parties are already there. There is speculation of Mukesh Sahni’s Vikasheel Insaan Party returning to the NDA. In such a situation, six to seven parties can be seen together in the NDA after the elections. In the 2020 assembly elections, Chirag and Upendra’s party fought separately from the NDA. JDU contested 115 seats, BJP 110, VIP 11 and HAM 7 seats. Now Chirag, Paras, Kushwaha will also be adjusted in these 243 seats.
In the Lok Sabha elections, BJP contested 17 seats, JDU 16, LJP-R 5 and RLMO and HAM 1 seat each. In this, BJP won 12 out of 17, JDU 12 out of 16, LJP-R 5 out of 5 and HAM won 1 seat. Upendra Kushwaha not only lost from Karakat seat but also came third. Rajaram Singh Kushwaha of CPI-ML won and BJP rebel Pawan Singh came second. Kushwaha got angry in the entire area due to Bhojpuri star Pawan Singh contesting and due to this NDA suffered heavy losses in Magadh and Shahabad region. Out of the 9 seats that Mahagathbandhan got in Bihar, 7 seats are from this region.
Kushwaha has also commented on Nitish Kumar’s statement in which he said in a government function in the presence of BJP President JP Nadda that he made a mistake twice by joining the Mahagathbandhan but now he will stay with the NDA. Kushwaha said on this that what is the need for Nitish to say all this when he is in the NDA. It is not clear how this statement of Kushwaha has been taken in JDU. But after becoming an MP, other leaders in the NDA camp have started feeling the changing sentiments and attitude in Upendra Kushwaha’s statements.