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Both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have refused to meet Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha.
M I Khan reports.
Deeply upset at being ignored by the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha is likely to quit the BJP- led National Democratic Alliance on Thursday, December 6.
He will resign his ministership ahead of the winter session of Parliament which begins on December 11.
A day after the RLSP deadline of its ultimatum to the BJP -- to ensure by November 30 'respectful' seat-sharing in Bihar for the 2019 Lok Sabha election -- the RLSP has begun talks with the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress-Hindustan Awam Morcha allince, a senior RLSP leader said.
Kushwaha, who arrived in Patna on Friday from New Delhi, said he will take a decision to continue in the NDA or walk away following discussions with RLSP leaders by December 6.
'I will not take any decision alone. The decision will be taken after discussion with party leaders,' Kushwaha said in Motihari, the headquarters of East Champaran district.
RLSP leaders will meet at a three-day Chintan Shivir beginning on Tuesday, December 4, at Valmikinagar in West Champaran district.
"The RLSP will announce a big decision that will affect state politics and create the possibility for a political realignment," a party leader told this correspondent.
RLSP leaders says the party has made up its mind to project how Kushwaha has been insulted, humiliated and ignored by the BJP under pressure from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United party aligned with the BJP in July 2017 and formed a coalition government in Bihar after it broke up its alliance with the RJD and Congress which was formed before the 2015 assembly election in the state.
Kushwaha had sought Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's intervention to settle the Lok Sabha seat-sharing issue in the NDA in Bihar. Despite seeking an appointment with Modi, he was not given time despite camping in Delhi for days. Modi flew to the G-20 summit in Argentina without meeting the minister.
BJP President Amit Anilchandra Shah too refused to meet Kushwaha.
'I have twice tried to meet Amit Shah to discuss a respectful seat-sharing in the NDA in Bihar. Even on Friday I waited to meet him, but could not. I was not given time to meet Amit Shah,' Kushwaha said.
Last month, the RLSP rejected the offer made to it in the Lok Sabha seat-sharing formula finalised by the BJP.
The RLSP executive, Kushwaha said, rejected the offer of seats made to the party by the BJP. However, he refused to reveal the number of seats offered by the BJP.
RLSP Working President Nagmani has repeatedly said the BJP offered the RLSP 2 seats and gave 16 seats to the JD-U.
Kushwaha has alleged that the JD-U is trying to split the RLSP and destroy him politically. RLSP leaders have time and again said Kushwaha is chief ministerial material for the 2020 Bihar assembly election.
The RJD-Congress-HAM alliance is hopeful that the RLSP will join them soon.
Kushwaha, a soft spoken politician who belongs to the OBC Koeri caste -- the largest social group after Lalu Prasad's Yadav caste in Bihar -- is reportedly not comfortable with the BJP and Nitish Kumar.