The Opposition’s INDIA bloc is learnt to have offered eight Lok Sabha seats to Lok Janshakti Party’s (Ram Vilas) Chief, Chirag Paswan, in Bihar, even as seat-sharing tussle within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners in the state continues.
Chirag Paswan had formally returned to NDA in July 2023.
Apart from eight seats in Bihar, Chirag Paswan’s party has also been offered two seats in Uttar Pradesh, an NDTV report said, quoting sources.
The ten-seat proposal in two states is significant since NDA has reportedly offered only six seats to Chirag Paswan with the caveat that two of those six seats will have to be split with his uncle and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party Chief Pashupati Paras. Chirag is not on the best terms with his uncle Pashupati Paras who has been serving as the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries in Prime Minister Narendra Modi cabinet since 2021.
The INDIA bloc’s offer, however, doesn’t include Pashupati Paras. Chirag will get to field candidates on six seats that the undivided Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had contested in 2019, as well as two additional constituencies in Bihar and two in Uttar Pradesh, the NDTV report said.
Also Read: Bihar politics: ‘May continue to disagree with Nitish Kumar…,’ says Chirag Paswan ahead of oath-taking ceremony
Founded by Chirag Paswan’s late father, Ram Vilas Paswan, the Lok Janshakti Party split in 2021 following a coup by Pashupati Paras after the founder’s death.
The political developments in Bihar assume significance because the state is now under NDA rule with Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister. Chirag and Nitish have not been on good terms either. After Pashupati Paras was given a cabinet berth in 2021, Chirag Paswan had attacked Nitish.
Chirag had quit the NDA in 2020 over differences with Nitish, but he rejoined the alliance last year when the Bihar Chief Minister was part of the Mahagathbandhan, now in opposition.
In 2019, the BJP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU fought Lok Sabha elections together. The undivided LJP won all six seats contested.
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Published: 07 Mar 2024, 11:11 AM IST