Paras to reveal RLJP’s Bihar poll strategy on Oct 14, keeps alliance option open

Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party Bihar state president Prince Raj Paswan said talks were ongoing with the Mahagathbandhan.

PATNA: Former Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) chief Pashupati Kumar Paras on Sunday said his party would announce its decision on whether to join any alliance or contest alone in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections o by October 14.

Former Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) chief Pashupati Kumar Paras. (File Photo / PTI)

The two-phase Bihar assembly elections will be held on November 6 and 11.

“There is still time till October 17 (the last date for filing nominations for the first phase). I will disclose the decision the day after tomorrow,” Paras told reporters after a meeting of the party’s district presidents and state officials at the RLJP office in Patna on Sunday evening.

He said that both the NDA and the INDIA bloc were yet to finalise their seat-sharing arrangements. “Whatever decision is taken, I’ll announce it the day after tomorrow,” he added.

To be sure, later in the day, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) finalised its seat-sharing formula, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) contesting 101 seats each, and the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) contesting 29 seats. The Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) would be contesting six seats each.

RLJP state president Prince Raj Paswan said talks were ongoing with the Mahagathbandhan.

The party meeting also authorised Paras to take a final call on the upcoming Bihar polls, including any seat-sharing decisions or to contest alone, said Lallan Kumar Chandravanshi, RLJP’s state chief spokesperson.

Chandravanshi also said that former MP and party national vice-president Surajbhan Singh, who attended the meeting, remained firmly with the RLJP amid rumours of him switching to the RJD. “I am still where my leader, the late Ram Vilas Paswan, left me. I continue to uphold his ideals,” Singh told reporters.

When asked about speculation that Singh’s wife or brother might join the RJD, Chandravanshi dismissed it as “purely speculative at this stage.” “No one can say what will happen tomorrow, but as on date, Singh remains with us,” he added.

The upcoming Bihar election will be a crucial test for the RLJP, which has struggled to retain its political identity after the Lok Janshakti Party’s split in 2021, following Ram Vilas Paswan’s death in 2020. This will also be the party’s first assembly election under the RLJP banner.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had sided with Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) over Paras’s faction. Despite not opposing Chirag then, Paras has now signalled open competition. Recently, he declared that the RLJP would field candidates against Chirag’s nominees in the state polls.