Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday said he invited former Bharatiya Janta Party ally Upendra Kushwaha to join the Congress-led “grand alliance”, ANI reported. His statement comes amid speculation that the former Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Samata party leader will join the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance later on Thursday, reports said.

On December 10, Kushwaha had resigned from the Union Cabinet and pulled his party out of the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

Yadav said the situation “will be clearer” by Thursday evening. “If Upendra Kushwahaji wants what is good for the country, he will join us,” Yadav said. “There have been attempts to crush regional parties, and even the Lok Samata Party is not happy with [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi’s administration.”

On December 15, Kushwaha’s party seemed headed for a split after its three Bihar legislators announced their decision to sever ties with him. Kushwaha’s party MLAs Sudhanshu Shekhar and Lalan Paswan and the MLC Sanjiv Singh Shyam had held a press conference to say that they were against his decision to break away from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance at the Centre.

The same day, Kushwaha had met Congress leader Ahmed Patel at his residence in Delhi, triggering speculation about a possible alliance between his faction and the Rahul Gandhi-led party, ANI reported.