Upendra Kushwaha, who had joined the JD(U) on March 14, figured among the 12 MLCs – six each from the BJP and JD(U) – nominated on Wednesday by Governor Phagu Chauhan. NDA ruling alliance partners Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Vikassheel Insaan Party protested over not being consulted for the list of nominated MLCs.
The buzz in political corridors is that Mr. Kushwaha, who was made chief of the JD(U) parliamentary board earlier, could be inducted into the Nitish Kumar Cabinet as well.
Ten seats were vacated since June 2020 while two seats had earlier fallen vacant due to members getting elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019.
Besides Mr. Kushwaha, five other leaders from the JD(U) nominated as MLCs are Ashok Choudhury, Sanjay Singh, Sanjay Gandhi, Lalan Saraf and Ram Bachan Rai. From the BJP quota, the six leaders are former Gopalganj MP Janak Ram, Devesh Kumar, Pramod Kumar Chandravanshi, Ghanshyam Thakur, Rajendra Gupta and Nivedita Singh.
“The nomination of MLCs was done without our consultation. It is against the spirit of coalition dharma,” said HAM(S) spokesperson Danish Rizwan, adding that “the move has brought the party to the point where it would mull over taking a big decision”. Similarly, VIP spokesperson Rajeev Mishra said, “We were not consulted on this.”
