Ahead of a BJP-led NDA leaders meet in Bihar on Thursday to discuss the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) has presented its chief Upendra Kushwaha as a possible Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2020 Assembly polls.
RLSP leader Nagmani said Union Minister Kushwaha can be an option for the Assembly elections as he has a greater mass base that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
"Nitish Kumar is not the only Chief Ministerial candidate. Upendra Kushwaha is also Chief Ministerial material," he said.
Nagmani, a former Union Minister, is considered close to Kushwaha. His statement came amid the Janata Dal-United's bid to put up Nitish Kumar as an undisputed leader of the coalition in Bihar.
On May 2, JD-U's Pawan Verma and K.C. Tyagi claimed that Nitish Kumar will spearhead the NDA challenge in 2019. However, Chirag Paswan, son of Lok Janshakti Party President and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, rejected the possibility.
According to RLSP leaders here, Kushwaha was unlikely to attend the Bihar NDA leaders' meet followed by a mega dinner on Thursday night. Kushwaha on Wednesday had also skipped Paswan's iftar party.
"Upendra Kushwaha is unhappy with the functioning of the NDA and BJP leaders and Nitish Kumar hijacking the coalition in Bihar," an RLSP leader said.
Thursday's meet will be the first such event after the NDA came to power in Bihar in July 2017 after Nitish Kumar broke ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.
--IANS
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