Upendra Kushwaha said people want an end to the 15-year "misrule" of Nitish Kumar
RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha said on Friday he has formed a three-party front to contest the Bihar assembly election to present to the people a "positive choice" and not to split the opposition votes.
The former union minister said people of the state want an end to the 15-year "misrule" of Nitish Kumar. He said the RJD does not have a "strong" chief ministerial face, and people are yet to forget what happened during 15 years of the Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi governance. The RJD government was criticised by its political rivals over the law and order situation and alleged lack of development.
"People no longer have confidence in Nitish Kumar… they also don't want to go with the RJD, as both are two sides of the same coin. In such a situation, we have launched a front of three parties to give a positive choice to the people," Mr Kushwaha said.
Having been spurned by the NDA and discarded by the RJD-helmed Grand Alliance, Mr Kushwaha has forged a coalition with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party and Jantantrik Party (Socialist).
Mayawati has announced that her party will project Mr Kushwaha as the coalition's chief ministerial face, an assertion the ruling NDA and the main opposition grand alliance have scoffed at.
When asked why he left the grand alliance, the former union minister said, "The present leadership of the RJD is not strong enough to remove Nitish Kumar from power and its chief ministerial candidate (Tejashwi Yadav) is no match to him (Kumar)."
Tejashwi Yadav, RJD chief Lalu Yadav's son, is leading the party with his mother Rabri Devi in the absence of his father who is serving time in jail in Ranchi after conviction in multiple fodder scam cases.
"Had the opposition coalition decided on another person as its chief ministerial candidate, it would have helped in removing Kumar from power... but unfortunately this did not happen," Mr Kushwaha said.
"In these circumstances, I thought instead of getting wiped out in the polls it is better to form another alliance to give one more choice to the people of Bihar," the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief said.