[5][6][7] On 20 February 2023, Kushwaha resigned from all positions in Janata Dal (United) and formed his own party called Rashtriya Lok Morcha due to his political problems with JD(U) and Nitish Kumar.

[16] Kushwaha founded the Rashtriya Samata Party in February 2009 against the backdrop of alleged marginalisation of the Koeri caste and autocratic rule by the Bihar state government of Nitish Kumar.

[17] In November 2009, the Rashtriya Samata Party was merged into Janata Dal (United) due to an improved relationship between Kushwaha and Kumar.

[16] On 4 January 2013, Upendra Kushwaha, who at the time was a Rajya Sabha member, resigned from Janata Dal (United), saying the Nitish model had failed and that the law-and-order situation was becoming as bad as it had been seven years before.

The NDA leadership was sceptical of Kushwaha's influence on members of the Koeri caste and believed they could win elections in Bihar without his support.

According to political analysts of Bihar, Nitish Kumar holds considerable influence on the Koeri and Kurmi communities as a counter to which BJP had earlier selected Keshav Prasad Maurya as its Uttar Pradesh chief.

[22][23][24] Kushwaha then joined United Progressive Alliance (locally known as Mahagathbandhan), which included Rashtriya Janata Dal, Hindustani Awam Morcha, and Vikassheel Insaan Party.

[27] During the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Upendra Kushwaha's speech, in which he referred to the newly formed alliance of his party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as "Kheer" sparked controversy.

Kushwaha announced the formation of an alliance called the Grand Democratic Secular Front (GDSF) in partnership with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

In several press conferences, he said Janata Dal (United) (JDU) had weakened and there was need to strengthen it again by reviving the party's core support base.

He said the incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav had grabbing the political rights of other Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and that after the Yadavs and Kurmis, the premiership of Bihar should pass into the hands of a Kushwaha leader, considering the leader of these three castes together launched the political party Triveni Sangh in the 1930s.

He also said Extremely Backward Castes, which have been neglected in electoral politics, should play an active role, and urged Kumar and Yadav to take steps to push them forward.

[48] Kushwaha had called a meeting of his aides in JDU and members of Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad in Patna on 19 and 20 February, planning to merge them to form his new political entity.

[49] Soon after formation of Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal, Kushwaha announced the launch of "Virasat Bachao Yatra", a statewide tour that included important places in Bihar and connecting with ground-level political workers to gain support against the Nitish Kumar government.

The second phase of this tour was planned to cover Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Bhagalpur, Nawada, Gaya, Rohtas, Sasaram, Bhojpur, and Arwal districts.

According to some of the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, the BJP was not solely dependent on Kushwaha to gain support among the members of numerically strong Koeri caste of Bihar, to which latter belonged.

It had raised Samrat Chaudhary from the same caste group as its Bihar unit president, as the BJP leadership believed that sole reliance on Kushwaha was not enough.

It was hence unable to break the grand social coalition formed by coming together of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar together in 2015 Bihar Assembly elections.

However, Singh continued his electoral campaigns with large number of stage shows involving musical concerts of Bhojpuri singers and actors.

The drifting of Rajput votes away from the NDA candidate led to victory of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation politician Raja Ram Singh Kushwaha from the Karakat seat.

The loss of Upendra Kushwaha also affected caste equation in the whole Shahabad region as the Koeri people voted against BJP and Rajput candidates in the constituencies in the vicinity of Karakat.

[57] As per its predetermined plan, National Democratic Alliance nominated Upendra Kushwaha along with Naman Kumar Mishra for Rajya Sabha Bypolls on 21 August 2024.

[58] In his early political career, Kushwaha was a favourite of Nitish Kumar, who invested a lot in him and made him leader of opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly.

"[63][64] In 2016, while he was serving as Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Kushwaha expressed his views on reservation in the private sector for Other Backward Classes.

In a rally organised in commemoration of social reformer Jyotiba Phule by former MP Raj Kumar Saini, Kushwaha said the dominant section of society have influence in all parts of the administration and the OBCs have no representation in some core sectors of the economy.

These village-level conferences were aimed at making farmers aware of the provisions of the Farm Laws brought by National Democratic Alliance government in 2021.

Highlighting the humble beginnings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and incumbent president Ram Nath Kovind, he asked why the opportunity to become a judge of the higher judiciary should be closed for communities that are considered a "weaker section".

In a convention organised by his RLSP party in Rajgir during his tenure as Union Minister, he put many demands before the Nitish Kumar government to rectify the state's education system.

At the inauguration meeting, he expressed concern over engineers being paid a minimum salary of ₹10,000 to ₹12,000 in the country after graduating from private technical institutions.

[85][86] Soon after this incident, Maharashtra leader Chhagan Bhujbal met Kushwaha at PMCH and criticised the NDA government of Bihar for the lathi charge.