Firmly With NDA, Want Modi Ji To Be PM Again In 2019: Upendra Kushwaha

BJP ally Upendra Kushwaha clarified that he is in the NDA, a day after he met RJD's Tejashwi Yadav

A day after meeting Bihar opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, Upendra Kushwaha, whose party is an ally of the BJP in the state said today that his party and he are firmly with the NDA government.

"We are in NDA and we want to see (Narendra) Modi ji as the Prime Minister again after the 2019 polls. Modi ji is a must for the country," Mr Kushwaha told reporters in Bihar's Rajgir.

Mr Kushwaha dismissed speculation about the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party leaving the National Democratic Alliance to join the Grand Alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress for the Lok Sabha polls next year.

"I have spoken to BJP president Amit Shah and am likely to meet him soon over seat sharing because seat-sharing formula has not been finalised yet," he said.

Mr Kushwaha had met Tejashwi Yadav on Friday at the circuit house in Bihar's Arwal district hours after Amit Shah announced in Delhi that the BJP and Nitish Kumar's JD(U) will contest an equal number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar next year under a seat-sharing formula agreed to between the two sides.

Mr Kushwaha's meeting with Tejashwi Yadav was seen by many as a result of his unhappiness over over the seat-sharing talks within the alliance.

According to RLSP leaders, Mr Kushwaha has been invited by Amit Shah to meet him in Delhi on Monday to discuss on the number of seats to be contested by them.

In 2014 polls, of the 40 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP had won 22, LJP 6 and RLSP 3 as part of the NDA alliance. The Janata Dal (United) had got only two seats as the party contested the Lok Sabha polls alone.