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New Delhi, October 11 (IANS) Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas President Chirag Paswan is displaying maturity and patience ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections in November this year, whereas in 2020 he had opened a front against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Nevertheless, he was again approaching another rebellion.
Though Chirag’s Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United are both part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, the two are still on sour terms when it comes to the state.
Despite Nitish Kumar being the accepted face to lead the NDA in Bihar, the responsibility was left to the BJP to sort out the seat-sharing formula with allies, who people in the know say had sought a larger share at the expense of JD-U.
Insiders claim that the Chief Minister will not agree to such demands, although in 2020 his party stood third in terms of number of MLAs in the Bihar Assembly.
But, after being re-introduced as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate, Nitish Kumar decided to put himself forward.
Despite sometimes declaring earlier campaigns as his last, he chose to continue.
But many now see the septuagenarian leader displaying public discomfort in the winter of his professional career.
Meanwhile, the younger Paswan took over the leadership of the Lok Janshakti Party following the death of his father Ram Vilas, which subsequently split, and positioned himself as a challenger to Nitish Kumar’s leadership.
In 2020, despite technically being part of the NDA, it fielded 135 candidates from 243 seats in Bihar, almost all of them against the JD-U, and this was widely considered one of the reasons that weakened the chief ministership.
Nitish Kumar’s JD-U was reduced to 43 seats, while BJP became stronger on 74 seats.
But despite emerging as the larger partner, the latter decided to honor its commitment and let Nitish Kumar become the chief minister.
For Chirag, the gambit of 2020 established his relevance as a disruptor in Bihar politics.
According to a senior leader who was once close to his father, Chirag Pawan has inherited some political skills from his father, who would uncannily sense the alliance’s victory even before the elections went to the polls and regroup himself.
The octogenarian leader, requesting anonymity, said successors resorted to constituency mapping, surveys and election management consultants, although on a modest scale.
Thus, during the period of open rebellion, Chirag chose to display unwavering faith and loyalty towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and called himself “Hanuman”.
He keeps expressing that sentiment.
As his talks with BJP envoys on Thursday and Friday came close to sealing the seat-sharing deal, a journalist asked him about his self-respect.
He replied, “Where my Prime Minister is (present), I need not worry about my honour.”
In 2024, the Lok Sabha elections marked the political comeback of Chirag Paswan, where his party won all five seats contested in alliance with the NDA in Bihar.
Unlike the 2020 assembly elections, where only one of their candidates could win – only to defect later – the 100 per cent strike rate in the parliamentary election gave them bargaining power within the NDA and earned them a cabinet berth in the Narendra Modi government.
Ahead of the meeting of NDA constituents in New Delhi on June 5, 2024, a confident Chirag met Nitish Kumar along with his newly elected MPs.
In late May this year, he met Nitish Kumar in Patna, where while speaking to the media he supported his leadership and claimed that there was “no vacancy” for the post of Chief Minister.
But two months later, a few hours after meeting BJP President JP Nadda, Chirag expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order in Bihar.
Under such circumstances, it was left to the BJP to resolve the alliance’s grievances amicably.
–IANS
JB/KHz