Is Upendra Kushwaha looking to take over as Bihar’s deputy chief minister? The JD(U) leader has expressed his eagerness to join Nitish Kumar’s cabinet.
Janata Dal United’s parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha has expressed his eagerness to join the Nitish Kumar cabinet amidst speculation that the Bihar CM might go for cabinet expansion post January 14, once the inauspicious month of ‘kharmas’ ends.
“I am in politics to serve the people and it is obvious that one wants to be in a seat of power so that he can serve the people”, Upendra Kushwaha said while speaking to the media on Tuesday.
Kushwaha, who served as union minister of state for the human resource development department last year, joined Mahagathbandhan and merged his party Rashtriya Lok Samta Party with Janata Dal United
There are speculations that Kushwaha is lobbying hard for the post of deputy chief minister in the Nitish Kumar government and his comments have only reaffirmed that he was looking for a position in the Nitish government.
It is learnt that Congress, on the other hand, is also bargaining for two more berths in the Nitish cabinet. Presently, the grand old party has two ministers in the Bihar government.
The only hurdle Kushwaha could face joining the Nitish Kumar cabinet could be the RJD, which is the largest party in the Mahagathbandhan with 79 legislators. With Nitish Kumar already at the helm of affairs in the government from Janata Dal United and Tejashwi Yadav as his deputy, the induction of another deputy chief minister could not go down well with the RJD.
In the assembly, the JD(U) has 45 MLAs, Congress 19, CPI ML 12, HAM 4, CPI 2 and CPM 2.
