PATNA: The fate of Bihar’s panchayati raj minister Deepak Prakash hangs in the balance as Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), founded and led by his father and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, looks set to split with three of the four party legislators likely to stake claim over the organisation as part of the NDA.The three MLAs — Rameshwar Mahto, Madhav Anand and Alok Kumar Singh — are reportedly angry with Kushwaha for making his son a minister despite his not being a member of either House of the state’s bicameral legislature. If that happens, neither BJP nor Janata Dal United — the two major NDA partners — will make Deepak an MLC, which he needs to become within six months to continue as a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet.Everyone was surprised when Kushwaha, whose Rajya Sabha membership expires in April, named his son, Deepak, as a minister from RLM quota instead of wife and Sasaram MLA Snehlata. If RLM indeed splits, prospects of another Rajya Sabha term for Kushwaha may also dim. Five Bihar seats in the Lower House are falling vacant in April.Bajpatti MLA Rameshwar Mahto said, “The decision to make Deepak a minister was wrong. We hoped Kushwaha would see reason, but in vain. The three of us are together but have not decided our next step — whether to leave the party or not — yet.”Madhav Anand, who is MLA from Madhubani, told TOI on phone from Delhi that RLM was united. “We will sit and discuss things if there is any resentment,” he said.The three MLAs had skipped the recent “litti party” hosted by Kushwaha and preferred to meet Nitin Nabin the same day after his appointment as BJP national working president. Mahto was unsparing when reminded that Kushwaha made his son minister “to keep the party united”, as he had said.“CM Nitish Kumar is my mentor, who always believes in doing what he says. I came with Kushwaha for his stand against dynastic politics. I could never imagine that he is floating the party for ‘Parivar’ politics. I have a roaring business and do politics to serve the poor, not for ‘parivar’. Party workers have hopes from their representatives… I started a charitable trust hospital for the poor soon after election,” Mahto said.However, RLM chief spokesman Ram Pukar Sinha said the party is united and everyone is working hard to make it stronger.Kushwaha, who had earlier founded RLSP which he later merged with JDU, served as Union minister of state for education in the first Modi govt from 2014-2019. Since then, he or his party has had little success till the Nov 2025 Bihar assembly election in which RLM managed to win four seats.
