Shoulders cold for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the by-elections for a Rajya Sabha seat in Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Chairman Chirag Paswan said on Saturday that he belonged to the saffron party and was free to make a decision on who to align.
The seat was vacated after the death of Chirag Paswan’s father and founder of the Lok Janshakti Party, Ram Vilas Paswan. The BJP nominated former Bihar chief deputy minister Sushil Kumar Modi for the position.
Sushil Modi is likely to win unopposed unless the opposition Grand Alliance presents a candidate to challenge him.
In that case, the vote will take place on December 14.
A union minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, was elected to the post last year after he became vacant following the election of his cabinet colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad to the Lok Sabha of Patna Sahib.
“The seat belonged to the BJP and it is the party that decides which party’s candidate to run in the by-elections,” the 37-year-old leader told reporters at a function held to celebrate the 20th day of the founding of his party.
Punished for the beating in the recent Bihar elections, Chirag Paswan called on the party rank and file to prepare for the next assembly elections that could take place “at any time”.
He reiterated this in a letter addressed to LJP workers and shared it with the media.
Responding to questions, Paswan said he saw “new elections taking place at any time in Bihar, given the way the new government is working.”
In a written message to party workers, Paswan defended his decision to go alone in the assembly polls, saying: “We had to choose between accepting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) offer of only 15 seats despite being a party with six members in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha, or participate in a friendly fight to preserve our honor ”.
In the one-page letter, Paswan refrained from making any comments against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the head of JD (U) whom he had targeted during the elections and repeatedly accused of being unfair and rude to his late father while alive. .
The letter contained no reference to the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi to whom Paswan has proclaimed allegiance despite his strong support for Nitish Kumar.
The Jamui deputy also deplored the heated exchanges between the prime minister and opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav on the assembly floor on Friday, saying they both shared the blame for the unpleasant turn of events.
“I would not like to take sides in this matter. Many personal attacks were carried out from both sides. I don’t think the speech in the Bihar assembly has ever touched such depth, ”Paswan said.
The LJP chief, under whose leadership the party fought for more than half of the seats in the 243-member assembly but only won one, tried to cheer on his supporters and asked them to focus on the positive side.
“We were only able to win two seats in the previous assembly elections even though we had contested as part of the NDA.
This time, we were alone, without an army of star activists to vote for us. But we got 28 lakh votes and now our party is being talked about across the state, ”Paswan said in his letter.
“It was the dream of the founder of LJP, my late father, to help the party develop on its own. We have taken a step in that direction. Let’s keep marching, ”added Paswan, who assumed command of his father’s party a year ago.
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