Chirag pitches mother’s name for Hajipur seat in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan on Monday said his party will contest no less than six Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, and that he wants his mother to fight next year’s General Elections from Hajipur seat
Patna: Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan on Monday said his party will contest no less than six Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, and that he wants his mother to fight next year’s General Elections from Hajipur seat.
The Hajipur seat is currently occupied by Paswan’s estranged uncle and Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, both of whom have been locked in a tussle after the latter split the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) into two factions in 2021.
The two sides have been claiming the legacy of Paswan’s father and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan, who passed away in 2020.
Soon, the Election Commission recognised the group headed by Chirag as Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and the one helmed by Paras came to be known as Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party.
Speaking to reports in Patna, Chirag Paswan, an MP from Jamui, said: “My party will contest no less than six parliamentary seats in Bihar.”
Asked about Paras digging in his heels on the issue of Hajipur, Chirag Paswan said: “As the sitting MP, it is natural for him (Paras) to stake claim on the seat. But for us, Hajipur has an emotional connection. I consider the land as my mother. In the absence of my father, it is natural for me to take care of the constituency the way my late father did in this lifetime.”
He added: “A final decision is yet to be taken by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on seat sharing and candidature. But I want my mother (Reena Paswan) to contest from there (Hajipur). After my father, she has the first claim on that seat.”
The Hajipur seat was represented by Ram Vilas Paswan 10 times since 1977.
Chirag Paswan’s remarks came even as Paras, in the past, claimed that his late brother Ram Vilas Paswan insisted that he contest the Hajipur seat as he, and not his son, was the “political heir”.
Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party national spokesperson Shrawan Agarwal said: “This is unacceptable. Come what may, Pashupati Paras will contest from Hajipur. Late Ram Vilas Paswan had also announced Paras as his successor from Hajipur. The late leader showed faith in him and had said that Chirag will serve Jamui. Voters of Hajipur will not accept any other leader other than Pashupati Paras. Chirag keeps on floating such ideas.”
Both LJP factions are currently part of the NDA. While Paras’s faction has been part of the alliance since 2019, Chirag Paswan’s camp returned to the fold last month. The latter had walked out of the NDA ahead of the state elections in Bihar in 2020 over disagreements with chief minister Nitish Kumar, who was also earlier with the bloc.
In the 2019 elections, a united LJP won six Lok Sabha seats in Bihar as an NDA constituent. While Paras won from Hajipur, Chirag emerged as winner from Jamui.
The prolonged tussle between Chirag Paswan and Paras may spell worry for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the NDA.
State BJP spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel said: “The NDA is united and any issue within the alliance will be sorted. As far as LJP is concerned, it is their internal issue and we are confident they will also resolve the issue before elections.”
Chirag Paswan had earlier indicated that he expected the BJP to stick to the same seat-sharing arrangement as in 2019 when the undivided LJP had contested on six Lok Sabha seats and was given a Rajya Sabha seat as well.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Chirag Paswan told a gathering in Jamui that he wouldn’t desert the seat. “I came here as a youngster and will be here till I grow old,” Chirag Paswan, who first won the seat in 2014, said.