NEW DELHI: With LJP winning just one seat despite marginally increasing its share of votes, its boss, Chirag Paswan, has a difficult road ahead. The LJP could remain a member of the NDA at the Center, but keeping the party it inherited from Father Ramvilas Paswan intact after a “historic decision” to act alone will be a challenge.
The LJP candidate, Raj Kumar Singh, won in the Matihani constituency, while the party was unable to retain either of the two seats it represented in the last assembly.
This is LJP’s worst performance since it made a foray into the 2004 Lok Sabha election, which was established in November 2000. LJP sources said some high-ranking leaders disagreed with the decision to go solo and they even feared spectacle in case the party moves between two great rival blocks. Although Chirag has hurt the NDA by reducing its share of votes, particularly with JD (U) underperforming, his plan to play king and kingpin has been thwarted.
Chirag’s task becomes more difficult as his movement ended up downgrading LJP in Bihar and left him dependent on BJP bosses who could retain the party in NDA considering it represents a section of Dalits. Now it will be up to Chirag to convince the BJP that he can be a reliable long-term ally. His ability to muddy the waters of the NDA has indicated that the ruling party should have kept him in their fold, but the next election is a while ahead.
“It will be a challenge to keep the herd together. The party has lost the patriarch who could keep everyone together and no one would disagree with him, ”said a party informant. Chirag was appointed party chairman just a year ago, which was seen as a smart and smooth transfer of power by his father.
Some party leaders said they expected much better results compared to the assembly polls of 2010 and 2015, when the LJP had won three and two seats respectively. “We had high hopes as some prominent BJP leaders turned rebels received tickets from their strongholds. We never expected such a result considering the response to our president’s demonstrations across the state, “said one of them.
The LJP had performed the best in the 2005 elections when it won 29 seats and cornered its highest vote share of 12.6% and prevented RJD from returning to power. But Nitish Kumar was able to oversee the defection of 22 MLAs to JD (U). In the new elections held in October-November 2005, the LJP could only win 10 seats. Then too, Nitish made inroads into the LJP legislative party, courting many of them after he became prime minister.
The LJP candidate, Raj Kumar Singh, won in the Matihani constituency, while the party was unable to retain either of the two seats it represented in the last assembly.
This is LJP’s worst performance since it made a foray into the 2004 Lok Sabha election, which was established in November 2000. LJP sources said some high-ranking leaders disagreed with the decision to go solo and they even feared spectacle in case the party moves between two great rival blocks. Although Chirag has hurt the NDA by reducing its share of votes, particularly with JD (U) underperforming, his plan to play king and kingpin has been thwarted.
Chirag’s task becomes more difficult as his movement ended up downgrading LJP in Bihar and left him dependent on BJP bosses who could retain the party in NDA considering it represents a section of Dalits. Now it will be up to Chirag to convince the BJP that he can be a reliable long-term ally. His ability to muddy the waters of the NDA has indicated that the ruling party should have kept him in their fold, but the next election is a while ahead.
“It will be a challenge to keep the herd together. The party has lost the patriarch who could keep everyone together and no one would disagree with him, ”said a party informant. Chirag was appointed party chairman just a year ago, which was seen as a smart and smooth transfer of power by his father.
Some party leaders said they expected much better results compared to the assembly polls of 2010 and 2015, when the LJP had won three and two seats respectively. “We had high hopes as some prominent BJP leaders turned rebels received tickets from their strongholds. We never expected such a result considering the response to our president’s demonstrations across the state, “said one of them.
The LJP had performed the best in the 2005 elections when it won 29 seats and cornered its highest vote share of 12.6% and prevented RJD from returning to power. But Nitish Kumar was able to oversee the defection of 22 MLAs to JD (U). In the new elections held in October-November 2005, the LJP could only win 10 seats. Then too, Nitish made inroads into the LJP legislative party, courting many of them after he became prime minister.
.
