New Delhi: In another sign of deteriorating relationship with his NDA allies, Union Minister and RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha met opposition leader Sharad Yadav in Delhi on Monday morning.
The meeting was not on the cards when Kushwaha landed in Delhi on Sunday evening.
In fact, the Union minister was instead slated to meet BJP chief Amit Shah to register his protest against the JD(U)’s alleged attempts to 'poach' RSLP MLAs in Bihar.
There have been reports that two party legislatures in Bihar may join the JD(U).
Kushwaha has been peeved since the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) decided to contest an equal number of seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Bihar, with the saffron party indicating that it cannot spare more than two seats for the RLSP.
It had contested and won three seats in 2014. The state sends 40 members to the Lok Sabha.
Sources say Kushwaha was waiting for confirmation to meet Shah for talks over seat-sharing. After waiting for hours, there came no confirmation from the BJP national president. The meeting between Yadav and Kushwaha is likely to fuel buzz of the latter joining opposition forces to defeat the BJP in 2019 elections.
The NDA ally has been demanding more than three seats in the upcoming polls. The BJP is taking 17, fewer than the 22 seats it won in the last elections.
While Sharad Yadav has been criticising the policies of the government, Kushwaha has been hitting out at Nitish Kumar.
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