The status of BJP’s relationship with the Paswans has been complicated in recent months
Patna:
The ruling BJP, mired in trouble with his allies, received an ultimatum from Bihar’s key ally Chirag Paswan just weeks before the October-November state elections.
Chirag Paswan, whose father Ram Vilas Paswan is a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, met yesterday with BJP President JP Nadda and demanded a decision on the allocation of seats as soon as possible.
Otherwise, Paswan junior has told Nadda that the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will present candidates in 143 of Bihar’s 243 seats.
Sources say Chirag Paswan has also made it clear that he will not hesitate to run candidates against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU). He reportedly reminded the BJP chief that recently, the JDU said it had no alliance with the LJP. “So that LJP can run candidates against JDU candidates,” he said, according to sources.
Chirag Paswan’s warning intensifies the NDA vs NDA scenario in these polls after days of seat-sharing talks yielded no results.
Bihar will vote on October 28, November 3 and 7 for a new government and the results will be announced on November 10.
The state of the BJP’s relationship with the Paswan has been complicated in recent months due to a dispute between Nitish Kumar and Chirag Paswan.
The prime minister, who has come under fire from the opposition over a variety of issues, including the fight over the coronavirus and the migrant jobs crisis, has not rid himself of Paswans’ party, technically his allies in the NDA or the National Democratic Alliance.
In May, Chirag Paswan had commented that he would support the BJP “whether he goes with the Nitish Kumar leadership or changes his mind.” Since then, his attacks on the Chief Minister have been open and progressively sharper. Now, LJP leaders are also openly nominating Chirag Paswan for the post of chief minister, although Nitish Kumar has already been endorsed by Prime Minister Modi and Union Minister of the Interior Amit Shah. “He is definitely the main ministerial candidate of our party, there is no question about that,” Shahnawaz Ahmad Kaifi, LJP’s national secretary general, told the ANI news agency.
Nitish Kumar’s decision to bring rival-turned-ally Jitan Ram Manjhi to the NDA has fueled further anger in the Paswan camp, which has a similar vote bank.
To add insult to injury, Nitish Kumar recently unveiled his “Seven Nischay (seven resolves) part 2 “, doubling down after Chirag Paswan’s complaint about the Chief Minister’s job on the agenda of his previous alliance with the RJD and Congress despite having switched alliances.
If the Paswans decide to resign from the BJP-led coalition, they will be the third allies to do so. The BJP recently lost one of its oldest associates, Akali Dal, to farm laws. Another longtime ally, Shiv Sena, had parted ways with the BJP last year over the sharing of power in Maharashtra.
Sources say that BJP leaders in Bihar believe that even if Chirag Paswan leaves the alliance, the NDA will eventually consolidate Mahadalit’s votes that are outside the LJP’s main Dalit vote bank.
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