Former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha today merged his eight-year-old Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) with the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in Bihar after weeks of bargaining. Kushwaha was instantly rewarded with the post of JD-U’s parliamentary board chairperson. However, JD-U’s national president RCP Singh’s absence triggered various speculations.

The much-needed merger comes barely four months after the RLSP drew a blank in the recent Bihar Assembly elections held in October/November last year. Kushwaha who headed the six-party Grand Democratic Secular Front (GDSF) and projected as alliance’s chief ministerial candidate had contested elections on 104 seats but failed to open an account.

Kushwaha makes a homecoming after being expelled from the JD-U twice ~ first in 2007and then in 2013 ~ for raising a banner of revolt against the party leadership.

“I’m very happy to make a homecoming. The political situation in the country and the state warrants that all like-minded people come together. I have, therefore, decided that our journey should continue under the leadership of my elder brother Nitish Kumar,” Kushwaha said soon after accepting JDU membership.

Chief minister Kumar said Kushwaha’s entry to JD-U would boost party base. “We worked together in the past and have come together again. We both brothers will now work together for the state’s development,” the CM said.

Kushwaha who served as the Union minister in the Narendra Modi government has been in the political wilderness right since the time he quit the NDA in December 2018, just ahead of the 2019 LS polls. Subsequently, he became a part of the Grand Alliance and contested LS polls elections on five seats but drew a blank.

Just ahead of the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, he quit the GA and formed the GDSF after failing to get a respectable number of seats. However, his party put up an even more disastrous performance, winning none despite contesting over 100 seats. The RLSP polled only 1.77 per cent votes in the 2020 Assembly polls while in 2019 LS polls, it had polled 3.66 per cent votes.