'If You Want To Go Elsewhere...': Nitish Snaps At Kushwaha After Disgruntled JDU Leader Demands 'Own Share'

Bihar CM and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar said that disgruntled Upendra Kushwaha needs to give up raising his grievances through the media and put across his concerns at the party forum.

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that disgruntled Upendra Kushwaha can go to another party if he wishes to, but needs to give up raising his grievances through the media and put across his concerns at the party forum.

"Upendra Kushwaha can keep saying whatever he wants to say, we don't take them seriously. The Grand Alliance constitutes seven parties. Everyone is united. This will not impact the Grand Alliance," the JD(U) supremo told the media.

“He should understand that he returned to the party, after having parted ways, for the third time, but was treated with respect. If he has a grouse he should express the same inside the party. You do not go about airing your views in public through the media or social media”, he said.

A visibly displeased Nitish Kumar went on to say, "Now if you want to go elsewhere then go."

The statement came after Upendra Kushwaha, the National President of the JD(U) Parliamentary Board, attacked the Bihar Chief Minister on Twitter demanding his "own share" from the ruling party.

"Well said, big brother. But if little brothers start leaving just upon being told to do so, elder ones will end up grabbing all that has been bequeathed by ancestors. How can I leave giving up my own share?" tweeted Kushwaha, sharing a news report about Nitish's outbursts against himself.

In 2021, Kushwaha merged his party Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) with the JD(U). Nitish made him the National President of the party's Parliamentary Board and a Member of the Bihar Legislative Council.

Kushwaha's disgruntlement surfaced after Nitish Kumar ruled out having any other Deputy CM besides RJD's Tejashwi Yadav whom he has also believed to have declared as the future face of the ruling ‘Mahagathbandhan’.

On Wednesday, Nitish Kumar betrayed suspicion that Upendra Kushwaha could be hobnobbing with the BJP. "He should name at least one leader who is in touch (with BJP). The one who himself wants to get in touch is making such allegations," he said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

"He may talk nonsense for as long as he pleases and leave the day he wishes to," added the JD(U) supremo.

Last week, Kushwaha was in Delhi to undergo a medical check-up and his pictures with some BJP leaders at AIIMS surfaced on social media, seen as a "deliberate leak" by those in support of Kushwaha.

However, Kushwaha had, last week, made it clear that he "will never become a member of the BJP" but remained evasive on the question of floating a party and joining the NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.