The 2020 Bihar Assembly elections are approaching, and what seemed like a dud affair at one point with NDA, all but certain storming back into power with Nitish Kumar as the head honcho has suddenly turned into an exciting affair, courtesy Lok Jan Shakti Party’s Chirag Paswan. Throughout the last couple of months, Paswan has created ripples within the entire political spectrum of Bihar with his scathing criticism of Nitish Kumar and his subsequent decision of breaking up with NDA. However, it has been the unfortunate death of his father ‘Ram Vilas Paswan’ that has propelled a different Chirag to the fore as he is giving hints that a post-poll alliance with BJP is not a lost dream. The unpredictability of Chirag has definitely spiced things ahead of the elections.
A few days ago, the President of LJP had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bhagwan Ram and himself as his devoted Hanuman bhakt.
“I don’t need photos of PM Modi. He is in my heart. Much like Hanuman’s devotion for Ram, if you cut open my heart you will find only Modi-ji,” Chirag Paswan had said.
His statements have indeed brought a lot of traction to LJP which is looking to oust Nitish Kumar for good in the state.
After Amit Shah in a television interview said that it was Chirag Paswan who broke the alliance with the NDA ahead of the Bihar polls, the national president of the LJP said he agreed with Shah that it was his decision to walk out of the pact. “Amit Shah-ji is right, it was my decision that I could not walk with them any longer. But he lives in my heart.”
But once again, Chirag wasted no opportunity in taking down ‘Sushasan Babu’ as he claimed it was Nitish Kumar that was coercing the BJP leaders to speak against him.
“He (Nitish Kumar) has wasted most of the time to show how LJP and BJP are divided. The Chief Minister is fielding all big BJP leaders to speak against me. I just want to say that they are free to speak against me. I would even say that if the Prime Minister wants to say something against me just to satisfy the chief minister, he can,” said Chirag.
Reported by TFI previously, Chirag had iterated how he and his father were humiliated by Nitish Kumar and how the latter’s heightened toxic ego led to the ejection of LJP from the alliance.
“Ram Vilas Ji was humiliated before the nomination (Rajya Sabha) and was forced to visit the CM residence to ask for his support. Even during the meeting between the two, Nitish Kumar’s behaviour was not appropriate. Even during the nomination, Ram Vilas Ji requested Nitish Kumar to accompany him, but he did not come. It was only after passing of the auspicious period of filing nomination, that the CM came,” Chirag had written in his letter to BJP president JP Nadda.
Chirag Paswan has become extremely popular in the state in the last few years, especially after the Coronavirus lockdown when he directly took on Nitish Kumar on the migrants’ issue and gave popular slogans such as “Bihar first, Bihari first”. BJP might be attacking Chirag for the optics and for JDU’s comfort but the unavoidable truth is that the top brass of the saffron party wants Nitish Kumar gone and thus it is playing the long game with Chirag Paswan being Amit Shah’s trusted lieutenant.
BJP’s support to LJP can also be gauged from the fact that it has transferred some of its best leaders to LJP to contest against JDU. As reported by TFI, Senior BJP leader Usha Vidyarthi had joined the LJP last week. Prior to this, another BJP stalwart Rajendra Singh had also joined LJP.
Meanwhile, Chirag has held back no punches when it has come to cornering JDU and Nitish Kumar. He has constantly brought up the issue of the murder of Dalits in the last 15 years in the state and how the current regime hasn’t been able to provide jobs to the kin of the murdered. While JDU has brought Jitan Ram Manjhi to cover its Dalit base, Chirag Paswan has been steadily filling the deficit.
LJP President Mr. Chirag Paswan raised finger about jumla politics against NDA C.M. Nitish Kumar. He is first NDA Leader who opposed this type of cast politics. pic.twitter.com/7EiJhdtlDU
— Adv Jayram Sharma (@advJayram) September 7, 2020
The LJP leader has made his intentions crystal clear that he is no longer content to play the second fiddle in the state. Chirag has openly stated his unswerving loyalty to the BJP and in the forthcoming Assembly polls, his party will not contest seats where BJP will be contesting, however, it will fight against JDU.
Chirag is planning to cut into the JD(U) votes in the 143 seats that his party is contesting and potentially emerge as a kingmaker, in case the NDA falls short of a majority.
If BJP can win 80-90 seats out of 121 it is contesting, and LJP wins 25-35 seats out of 143 it has decided to contest, they can form the government on their own without any support from Nitish Kumar’s party.
Even if the alliance needs a few MLAs to form the government, the leaders in JD(U) camp would be more than willing to support a BJP CM as many of them themselves do not like Nitish Kumar who is stuck with CM chair for last one and a half decades and is not giving chance to young leaders to come forward in the hierarchy.
Chirag Paswan–the ‘Son’ has risen on the political horizon of Bihar, and he is one of the very few leaders in the state that has shown some promise to usher the raggedy state of Bihar into the mainstream. BJP and LJP have taken a risk by going separate ways but both parties would be hoping that the endgame is in their favour.