Bihar elections: Paswans flex muscles as Nitish launches virtual poll campaign

Lok Janshakti Party chief Chirag Paswan (Image: Twitter.com/@ichiragpaswan)

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will on September 7 launch the campaign, digitally, for the Bihar assembly elections planned later this year but there is uncertainty over alliance with the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Led by Chirag Paswan, who is the son of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the LJP will hold a meeting later in the day to decide whether it will contest the election with Kumar’s Janata Dal-United ((JDU) or against it.

Both the JD (U) and LJP are part of the BJP-led NDA alliance at the Centre. While the BJP and JD-U are partners in Bihar, LJP is not a part of the Nitish government, which it has often accused of not fulfilling its poll promises.

On September 6, Chirag Paswan wrote another letter to JD(U), accusing the government of failing to provide free land to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities.

Earlier, Paswan had criticised the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and flood situation.

Ties between the two parties have been strained for months but Kumar’s recent decision to join hands with former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has angered the LJP. Manjhi, like Paswans, is a Dalit leader. With an overlapping voter base, the two sides are bitter rivals.

Soon after Manjhi’s return to the NDA fold, LJP came out with a full-page advertisement in local papers, saying the Paswans were “fighting for Bihar’s pride”.

The advertisement, which talked of “Bihar First, Bihari First”, was seen as yet another dig at Kumar.

The 37-year-old Paswan, whose twitter bio describes him as “Yuva Bihari (young Bihari)”, is being projected as a youth leader who can lead the eastern state.

“We might as well see a new front with Chirag as a CM face,” said a leader who didn’t want to be named.

Kumar will at 11.30 am launch the poll campaign with a virtual rally through the party’s dedicated digital platform JDUlive.com.

Elections for the 243-member assembly are expected to be held in October-November as the House’s term ends November 29.

In the last election, the LJP contested 42 seats but could win only two. In 2019 Lok Sabha election, it won six parliamentary seats.

The Paswans have refrained from attacking the BJP, which has said the election will be held under the leadership of Kumar.

The Paswans may decide to field candidates against JD(U) while staying with NDA, sources said.