'Let me enjoy the moment': Chirag Paswan after LJP decides to go solo in Bihar Election
The Lok Janshakti Party's decision to walk out of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar has upended conventional wisdom and thrown open new possibilities in the three-phase assembly elections starting from October 28. The LJP said it will field candidates against the JDU but not against the BJP. The LJP also said that it will lend post-poll support to the BJP and "follow the path of progress shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
Responding to a question on whether the LJP has tied up with the BJP, Chirag Paswan said, "Let me enjoy the moment." Flashing a victory sign after a meeting of the party's central parliamentary board at his residence, he was quoted by news agency ANI, "I will not speak more but we will win the battle."
Today's meeting was earlier scheduled to be held on Saturday but was postponed after Chirag Paswan's father Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, was hospitalised and later underwent heart surgery at a hospital in Delhi.
Chirag had yesterday shared his "Bihar first Bihari first" a vision document of the LJP on Twitter. He said that the document has been inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought that the people of the state will bless him to make Bihar first and restore its pride so that "all my candidates could strengthen the hands of the prime minister."
The LJP traditionally draws its support from a big bloc of Dalit voters and has in its ranks a number of upper caste leaders, who are influential in different pockets of the state.
The LJP had deployed a similar strategy in the February 2005 assembly polls in the state when it was part of the Congress-led UPA alliance at the Centre but contested against the RJD, the principal UPA member in Bihar.
Its gamble paid off initially as the party with its 29 MLAs held the balance of power in a hung assembly which was, however, dissolved and a fresh election called for.
The LJP again fought independently while it remained a member of the UPA at the Centre, but this time people gave the NDA alliance headed by Nitish Kumar a clear majority, ending Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD 15-year reign in the state in 2005.
Political watchers will be keenly watching if the LJP again manages to effect a change of government in the state under its new leader.
The nomination process for the first phase, under which 71 of the total 243 seats will go to polls, began from October 1 and will end on October 8.
(With ANI and PTI inputs)
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