Upendra Kushwaha re-elected RLM chief after son misses MLC nomination

Published 13 June 2026 · local

Days after Rashtriya Lok Morcha’s (RLM) Deepak Prakash was denied a ticket for the Bihar Legislative Council elections, raising questions over his continuance as a

Days after Rashtriya Lok Morcha’s (RLM) Deepak Prakash was denied a ticket for the Bihar Legislative Council elections, raising questions over his continuance as a Minister, the party concluded its organisational elections on Sunday (June 13, 2026), re-electing former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha as its national president. The development is being seen as an assertion of independence by Mr. Kushwaha amid suggestions that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been encouraging a merger of the RLM with the party. Addressing a press conference in the national capital after the completion of the party elections, Mr. Kushwaha said his son, Deepak Prakash, was not a member of any House when he became a Minister in the BJP-led NDA government in Bihar headed by Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary.

“It was not me but the NDA which had made him the minister and they will decide the way forward,” he said, while asserting that Deepak Prakash would complete his term as a Minister. Asked whether he was comfortable in the NDA fold, he said, “I was never uncomfortable in the NDA”. Prakash was denied an NDA ticket for the Bihar Legislative Council (MLC) elections. He is currently serving as the Panchayati Raj Minister in Bihar but is not a member of either House of the State Legislature. Since constitutional provisions require him to become a member of the Assembly or the Council within six months of taking oath, uncertainty remains over the continuation of his ministerial position.

Earlier, before nominations for the MLC elections were announced, Mr. Kushwaha had ruled out the possibility of a merger with the BJP, stating that his party’s ideology did not align with that of the saffron party. On Saturday, the RLM chief reiterated his demand for an amendment to the provisions of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act, 1949, so that the management of the Mahabodhi Mahavihara Temple could be handed over to Buddhists. “I am also a Hindu. We have so many temples. Don’t we have a big enough heart to hand over just one temple to them,” he said. At the RLM convention here, a political resolution was also adopted which, among other things, demanded a change in the name of Patna to Patliputra, special status for Bihar until the State achieves the desired rate of development, and delimitation based on the 2026 Census.

The resolution also demanded that the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies be carried out solely on the basis of the population of States. “Elections were held in the party from the primary to the national levels, according to the party constitution. We had also launched a membership drive,” Mr. Kushwaha said. Pramod Kumar Suman, who oversaw the as the elections Chief Electoral Officer, said, “Upendra Kushwaha’s name was proposed by five other top leaders of the party and he was elected unanimously”.