Kushwaha quits NDA & govt, accuses PM of betraying backward classes

New Delhi: RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha Monday severed his ties with the BJP and resigned from the Union council of ministers, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of reducing Cabinet to a "rubber stamp", "betraying" backward classes and giving Bihar only "jumlas".

Making the announcement a day ahead of Parliament's winter session, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party leader from Bihar said he is open to joining the opposition alliance, which includes Lalu Prasad's RJD and the Congress.

He also claimed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would not be able to win a single seat in the state.

Kushwaha, whose break-up with the BJP was expected, sharply attacked Modi on a host of issues in his resignation letter, which was also released to the media.

He said he felt "betrayed and dejected" by the prime minister's leadership and alleged that "fixing" political opponents and not working for the poor had become the government's priority.

The former minister of state for HRD also raised the planks of Other Backward Classes and social justice - used by the opposition to decimate the BJP in the Bihar assembly polls in 2015 - to target Modi. He alleged that the Modi-led government was implementing the RSS agenda and dubbed it unconstitutional.