Chirag Paswan, Nitish Kumar meet after three-year stand-off, Project Bonhomie

Nitish Kumar met Chirag Paswan in Patna today.

Patna:

Chirag Paswan, who has regained support from the BJP, today met his long-time political rival Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The public meeting, held more than three years later, was seen as an icebreaker of sorts and expressed hope for a better alliance.

The meeting, which was inevitable after the BJP accepted Mr Paswan with open arms, was led by Sanjay Jha, a close aide to the chief minister, and the deputy chief minister, the party’s two key leaders. Samrat Choudhary and Health Minister Mangal Pandey – brought. explain.

The 30-minute meeting, held at Mr Kumar’s official residence at Patna’s 1 Anne Marg, was as much about optics as it was about establishing a smoother working relationship.

In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Janata Dal will contest five seats, far less than the JD(U)’s 16 seats.

There has been a bitter feud between the two parties over the past four years, starting with Chirag Paswan’s bid to contest the 2020 assembly elections against Kumar’s Janata Dal United . His party then split in 2021, with Mr Kumar breaking away from the BJP and returning to the NDA in less than two years.

While Chirag Paswan is said to be upset over the Chief Minister’s insult towards his father, there is another view that Mr Paswan’s father, former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, is grooming his son to succeed him as prime minister. Kumar’s future shoes.

Overnight, Chirag Paswan’s comments about Nitish Kumar became even more pointed. Until recently, Mr Kumar had publicly said that Chirag Paswan was “very abusive towards me”.

Meanwhile, Mr Paswan is contesting alone in the 2020 assembly elections. The JD(U) maintained that the move had weakened its votes and resulted in Mr Kumar losing his dominance in the state alliance.

After Ram Vilas Paswan’s death in 2020, the Liberal Party was divided in the fight over his legacy.

Many believe this was orchestrated by Kumar with the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which supported Chirag Paswan’s rebellious uncle Pashupati Paras and even gave him a cabinet seat.

But in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has clearly changed its stance and struck a deal with the Chirag Paswan faction of the BJP.