Upendra Kushwaha Gets an Earful from another Kushwaha

Patna: Aug. 20, 2008

Controversy surrounding the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state president Upendra Kushwaha refuses to go away as his own community member and the state Minor Irrigation Minister Dinesh Kushwaha on Wednesday slammed the NCP leader saying Upendra Kushwaha was never a leader of the Kushwaha community and was aspiring to be a Rajya Sabha member.

"This man has never done one thing for the Kushwaha community but now he has crowned himself as the leader of them. He had been dreaming to be a member of the Rajya Sabha and when that did not happen during his stay with the Janata Dal (U), he immediately jumped ship and joined the NCP," the Minor Irrigation Minister said at a press conference at the party office.

Dinesh Kushwaha further said that despite Upendra Kushwaha being inexperienced in politics, he was made the leader of the opposition. He was pampered by senior JD-U leaders and yet he engaged in activities that were detrimental to the party.

Talking about the bungalow controversy, Dinesh Kushwaha said that house was originally allocated to him in 2006 but despite repeated requests by the Building Construction Department, Upendra Kushwaha refused to vacate it.

"Not only that, he would not even pay the rent or pay the utility bills. I had to pay Rs. 9,000 from my own pocket to the electric company to avoid losing power in the bungalow," the minister said.

Meanwhile, the government is gearing up to recover rent money plus a hefty fine from the NCP leader for the three years of his stay in the bungalow.

Denying Kushwaha's earlier assertion that he had petitioned to the Assembly secretary seeking permission to keep the bungalow at the fair market rent, Building Construction Department officials said no such petition was made and further, the secretary does not have provisions to fulfill such requests.