Union minister Upendra Kushwaha has managed to create a stir — not by resigning as expected but by conveying directly to Narendra Modi that the cabinet has been reduced to a “mere rubber stamp” and all decisions were being taken by the Prime Minister, his office and the BJP president.

“The Union cabinet has been reduced to a mere rubber stamp, simply endorsing your decision without any deliberation,” Kushwaha, the junior HRD minister who heads the Bihar-based Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, said in the resignation letter addressed to the Prime Minister.

“Ministers and officers posted in ministries have become figureheads as virtually all decisions are taken by you, your office and the BJP president (Which is anti-constitutional),” added Kushwaha who has also quit the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

In the letter, Kushwaha accused Modi of using investigating agencies to fix political rivals instead of working for the poor. He accused the Prime Minister’s Office and the BJP president of “remote-controlling” investigative agencies to harass those with “contrarian views”.

The decision by Kushwaha to leave the ministry and the BJP-led alliance was announced a day before the counting of votes in five states.

While Kushwaha’s departure did not come as a surprise, what he wrote stung the BJP. This is the first time a member of the council of ministers is confirming in writing the widely held perception that the Modi-Shah duopoly is dominating the decision-making process.

Kushwaha was upset at being marginalised after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United revived its ties with the BJP. The BJP and the JDU “unilaterally” clinched a deal to contest an equal number of Lok Sabha seats in Bihar and are said to have offered a meagre share to Kushwaha’s party.

Kushwaha suggested that he is keen to join the wider Opposition alliance at the Centre and in the state, made up of the RJD, Congress and other parties. He is likely to meet Rahul Gandhi.

“I felt betrayed by the BJP…. I may join the wider Opposition or even go it alone,” he said after quitting the government and the NDA.

The BJP sought to ignore Kushwaha’s resignation, saying it was due and the party now has a more potent ally in the form of Nitish.

In his letter, Kushwaha added: “It is unfortunate that priority of the government is not to work for the poor and the oppressed but to fix political opponents by hook or by crook. Investigating agencies are being remote-controlled by your office and the BJP president with the sole purpose of harassing leaders with contrarian views,” he said.

“Constitutional offices are being undermined and virtually every institution in the government has been subjected to political appropriation,” he added. “The government has been toeing the agenda of RSS which is anti-constitutional and neglecting and subverting the agenda of social justice enshrined in the Constitution for which we have supported the NDA,” Kushwaha wrote a day after the RSS held a rally in Delhi and said the Modi government had no option but to bring a law to pave the way for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.