Although his son, Ravindra Kushwaha argues that Prasad was close to Lal Krishna Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP political workers from Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh considered him as a rival of the party.

This was witnessed in 2015, when, Amit Shah was to visit Salempur to take part in the death anniversary of Prasad, organized by his son, Ravindra Kushwaha.

It was reported that Prasad had considerable influence among the members of Kushwaha-Maurya and Kamboj caste in Deoria and adjoining region, whose support was required by BJP to fare well in the election.

In the 1998, Lok Sabha elections, the BJP candidate once again lost to Prasad, who by the time, became a member of Samata Party to contest the polls of 1998.

In 1999, Prasad lost to Bahujan Samaj Party candidate; he was a member of Janata Dal (United) then.

Prasad was also a part of Angreji Hatao Andolan (Remove English Name Plates Movement) in Varanasi, Lucknow, Farukhabad, Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Fatehpur and Deoria in 1954 and 1956.

During National Emergency, he was imprisoned for 21 months under Maintenance of Internal Security Act and prosecuted in 18 cases under Defence of India Rules.