Patel-Kushwaha meet sparks speculation: RLSP may join UPA ahead of Lok Sabha-2019

Five days after Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) Chief Upendra Kushwaha resigned from the Modi cabinet and quit the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel met him at his residence on Saturday evening.

The meeting between the former cabinet colleague of PM Modi and the Congress leader has sparked the speculation that Kushwaha may join UPA ahead of the Lok Sabha election-2019.

“This was the first round of talks between the two parties. Leaders of the both parties will meet again to finalise the induction,” said an RLSP source on the condition of anonymity.

Refuting media reports which claimed that Kushwaha may join the Congress, the source said, “Sawal hi paida nahi hota ki hum log Congress me shamil honge (It is out of question that we will join the Congress).

On the of talks of merger with Sharad Yadav led Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), the source said the decision will be taken soon in this regard.

“It would be very premature to comment on the talks of merger with the LJD at this stage,” he said.

Some media reports also claimed that RLSP will attend the Opposition meet on Monday. However, the source claimed that they are not going to attend the meeting.

Kushwaha, who has been at loggerhead with the JD(U) in Bihar resigned from the Modi cabinet, saying that the Modi government has failed to implement the idea of social justice.

Instead of implementing the idea of social justice, Modi government has been implementing idea of the RSS, Kushwaha had alleged.