Former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha who pulled out from the NDA alliance on December 10, joined the mahagathbandhan in Bihar on Thursday.
While addressing a press conference, Kushwaha said one of the reasons why he joined the mahagathbandhan was the "wholeheartedness" of Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Yadav.
"We had said that we have many options and UPA was one of them. The wholeheartedness shown by Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Yadav is one of the reasons I joined but the biggest reason I'm here is the people of Bihar", he said.
Welcoming Kushwaha in the grand alliance in Bihar, Congress leader Ahmed Patel said, "There is a gathbandhan in Bihar, it's a matter of happiness that Upendra Kushwaha is joining the mahagathbandhan".
Kushwaha was the former Minister of State for Human Resources Development (HRD).
The former member of the NDA had quit the alliance citing that he had several hopes from the NDA, however, the party did not live up to his expectations.
"Nearly five years ago I joined the National Democratic Alliance, under your leadership, with tremendous hope and expectations. During the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, you made several commitments to the people of Bihar and to the nation at large. It was in this context that I had extended my unconditional support to the BJP," he wrote in his resignation letter to PM Narendra Modi.
Khushwa had been upset with the BJP after it asserted that his party RLSP would not be given more than two seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
A day before joining the mahagathbandhan, Kushwaha had asserted that arrogance of BJP and Nitish Kumar were one of the reasons behind leaving the NDA and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) should also follow suit.
While replying to a question, Kushwaha also remarked that Rahul Gandhi has developed his "personality"and people are looking towards him as an option for replacing Narendra Modi.
Chirag Paswan, the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) a key ally of the NDA also expressed his disapproval with the BJP.
While being critical of the BJP, he praised Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying he had raised "real" issues of the youth and farmers, which fetched his party victory in the recently-held Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.