Latest news with #Bihar-centric
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Chirag Paswan keen to contest Bihar polls, claims Nitish will remain CM
Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan on Monday said he will 'definitely contest' the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections if his candidature improves the prospects of his party as well as the ruling NDA alliance in the state. When asked about the possibility of his contesting the Bihar polls, Chirag told the media, 'I have already said that I don't see myself in the politics of the Centre for a longer period. The reason for my entry into politics is Bihar and Biharis (people of Bihar). I have my own vision – Bihar first, Bihari first. In such a situation, I want my state Bihar to stand at par with developed states. After becoming an MP for the third time, I realised that it may not be possible by staying in Delhi.' The LJP(RV) chief was talking to reporters at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Chhattisgarh's Raipur. Chirag said he has expressed his wish to contest the Bihar polls to his party. 'The party is evaluating whether my candidature will benefit it. Because when national leaders contest state elections, that strengthens your position in the elections. The BJP has tried this strategy many times by fielding their MPs in the Assembly elections and have got its benefit. So, if my move to enter the poll fray improves the strike rate of my party and performance of the alliance (NDA), which is appearing possible in discussions, then I will definitely contest,' he said. Chirag pointed out that the LJP(RV) achieved a 100 per cent strike rate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar and that he would like his party's strike rate to be just as good in the state Assembly polls due in October-November this year. Contesting the Lok Sabha polls as part of the NDA coalition, the LJP(RV) won all five seats it contested. Asked about the NDA's chief ministerial face in the Bihar polls, Chirag said, 'There is no vacancy for the post of Bihar CM. Current CM Nitish Kumar will be CM again after the poll results.' It is another matter that Chirag has been known for having a strained relationship with the JD(U) and its supremo Nitish. Chirag's statement came a day after LJP(RV) MP Arun Bharti, in an X post, said that the party workers want him to contest the Assembly election and that too from a general seat. 'Our national president Chirag Paswan ji always says that his politics is Bihar-centric and his vision 'Bihar First, Bihari First' is a resolution for a developed and self-reliant Bihar. This is possible only when he himself stays in Bihar and leads. When I went from village to village as the state in-charge, people everywhere had only one demand – that Chirag ji should now play a bigger role in Bihar. Recently, in the party executive meeting, a proposal was also passed unanimously that he should contest the upcoming Assembly elections himself,' Bharti stated. 'At the same time, there is a feeling among the workers that this time he (Chirag) should contest the election not from a reserved seat but from a general seat – so that the message goes out that he is now ready to lead the entire Bihar and not just one section. Chirag Paswan today is not just a representative, he is the hope of the whole of Bihar. His move will give a new direction to the politics of social justice…' Bharti added. Chirag is currently MP from Hajipur (SC-reserved), the constituency of his father and LJP founder late Ram Vilas Paswan. In the 2020 Bihar polls, the then undivided LJP had gone solo, winning just one seat out of 135 seats the party contested, even though it caused damage to the JD(U) on several seats.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Union minister Paswan may enter Bihar poll fray, his party indicates
The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is likely to make a formal proposal to its chief Chirag Paswan to contest the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar, with lawmaker and party's state in-charge Arun Bharti urging the Union minister to contest the state elections from an 'unreserved' seat. It comes weeks after Paswan, who is the minister for food processing industries, expressed his intent to focus on Bihar politics. Bharti, who is the brother-in-law of the party chief, said the LJP(RV) workers want Paswan to contest from a general category seat if he does decide to fight the assembly polls due in October-November instead of a constituency reserved for the Scheduled Castes, a path often chosen by leaders from the Dalit community. 'Our party national president Chirag Paswan always says that his politics is Bihar-centric and his vision 'Bihar first, Bihari first' is a resolution for a developed and self-reliant Bihar. This is possible only when he himself stays in Bihar and leads the organisation,' Bharti, the Lok Sabha MP from Jamui, said in a post in Hindi on X. He said the people of Bihar want Paswan to play a bigger role in the state politics, adding that party workers also feel he should contest the elections not from a reserved seat, but from a general seat — 'so that the message goes out that he is now ready to lead the entire Bihar, and not just one section.' Bharti further said that the party's state executive panel, which met a few days back, endorsed Paswan's desire to contest the upcoming assembly elections. The LJP(RV), which is a key constituent of the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre as well as in Bihar, galvanised into action mode after Paswan shared the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public meeting in Rohtas on May 30. Party insiders said the national executive was hurriedly convened at Bikramganj soon after the departure of PM Modi for New Delhi, and unanimously passed a resolution, urging Paswan to contest the state elections. The move by the LJP(RV) is also being seen as pressure-building tactics by the party ahead of the seat-sharing talks among the constituents of the NDA, also comprising chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United), former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha. Paswan, in an interview to a media channel, on Sunday said he had left his plans to contest the assembly elections entirely to his party. 'If the party wants, I am ready to contest the Assembly elections,' he added. Another senior LJP(RV) leader, however, said there are a lot of issues to be resolved in the NDA in Bihar before letting Paswan take a plunge into the state electoral politics. 'First of all, the seat-sharing formula among the NDA constituents needs to be finalised. As per our standing in the Lok Sabha, we expect to contest from 30 seats under the alliance,' the leader said, requesting anonymity, adding that the party chief recently met Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha in this regard. Paswan met Nitish Kumar in Patna on May 19 and later told reporters that there is no vacancy currently in Bihar for the post of chief minister, exuding confidence that the incumbent CM will continue to lead an NDA government after the upcoming assembly polls. In the 2020 assembly polls, it was the Paswan-led party, the then undivided LJP, that had played a spoiler for Kumar-led JD(U). Paswan's decision to walk out of the NDA and put up its candidates mostly against the JD(U) in the previous polls relegated the JD(U) relegated to the third position with its lowest tally of 43 seats in the 243-member assembly. Though Paswan's party could also win only one seat and later suffered a split but has since recovered its ground and won all five Lok Sabha seats it contested in the last general elections. Buttressing the party's wish to contest more seats in the upcoming polls, another LJP (RV) leader pointed out that the party had fielded its candidates on 42 seats in alliance with the BJP in 2015. It had then won two seats. 'There are too many slips between the cup and the lips for Chirag Paswan. The Janata Dal (United) does not have a good image about him. It had lost many seats owing to the triangular fight triggered by LJP(RV), which chose to contest the 2020 state polls alone. Although it won only one seat, LJP(RV) finished second on nine seats out of 137 it had contested and bagged a sizable number of votes to engineer defeat of the JD(U) contestants,' political analyst Ramashankar Arya said.
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
LJP (RV) hints Chirag Paswan will contest Bihar Assembly election from general seat
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) on Sunday (June 1, 2025) hinted that party supremo and Union Minister Chirag Paswan would contest the Bihar Assembly election from a general seat instead of a reserved seat. In a social media post on 'X', Jamui MP Arun Bharti said that party workers wanted Mr. Paswan to contest from a general seat to send out the message that he was now ready to lead not just one section of the people but the whole of Bihar. In April, Mr. Paswan had said that he wanted to focus more on Bihar and did not want to spend much time at the Centre. Assembly election in Bihar is due this year in October-November. 'Our National President Chirag Paswan ji always says that his politics is Bihar-centric and his vision 'Bihar First, Bihari First' is a resolution for a developed and self-reliant Bihar. This is only possible when he himself stays in Bihar and leads,' Mr. Bharti said in the post. He further said, 'When I went from village to village as the State in-charge, people everywhere had only one demand – that Chirag ji should now play a bigger role in Bihar. Recently, in the party executive meeting, a resolution was also passed unanimously that he himself should contest the upcoming assembly elections.' Last month, Mr. Paswan had a closed-door meeting with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna, fuelling speculation about his plans for the upcoming election. It was believed that he wanted to keep Mr. Kumar in the loop before making a decision. 'The workers also feel that this time he should contest the elections not from a reserved seat, but from a general seat – so that the message goes out that he is now ready to lead the entire Bihar, not just one section. Chirag Paswan today is not just a representative; he is the hope of the entire Bihar. This step will give a new direction to the politics of social justice – in which the fight for representation as well as acceptance will be fought,' Mr. Bharti asserted. Reacting to the development, Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Abhishek Jha said that workers of any political party always wanted their leader to get the top post. 'Every citizen of the country has the right to contest elections from any place. If there is talk of Chirag Paswan ji contesting the Assembly election, what's wrong in that? He himself has said that there is no vacancy for the CM post in Bihar as the entire NDA will contest the election under the leadership of Nitish Kumar,' he said. Stating that Mr. Paswan was a strong partner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Kuntal Krishna said, who would get which Assembly seat would be decided during seat distribution talks. If the LJP(RV) wanted to field Mr. Paswan from any of the seats they get for their party after seat sharing, they were most welcome, he added. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary took a dig at the NDA, claiming that chaos had already started in the alliance over who would become the Chief Minister.
News18
4 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Chirag Paswan To Contest Bihar Assembly Elections, Seat Not Decided Yet: Sources
Last Updated: Chirag Paswan will contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls from a general seat, as decided by the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas). The seat is yet to be decided. The parliamentary board of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has decided that Union Minister Chirag Paswan will contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls from a general (unreserved) seat, sources said on Sunday. According to the LJP sources, the seat has not been decided yet, but it'll be a general seat. Party leader and MP Arun Bharti took to X, confirming that a proposal was also passed unanimously that Chirag Paswan should contest the upcoming assembly elections himself. 'Our National President Shri @iChiragPaswan ji always says that his politics is Bihar-centric and his vision 'Bihar First, Bihari First" is a resolution for a developed and self-reliant Bihar. This is possible only when he stays in Bihar and leads," Bharti wrote on X. 'When I went from village to village as the state in-charge, people everywhere had only one demand – that Chirag ji should now play a bigger role in Bihar. Recently, in the party executive meeting, a proposal was also passed unanimously that he should contest the upcoming assembly elections himself," he added. The Jamui MP said that Chirag Paswan is not just a 'representative", but the 'hope of the whole of Bihar." He said that the Union Minister will give a new direction to the politics of social justice, in which, along with representation, the fight for universal acceptance will also be fought. 'At the same time, there is a feeling among the workers that this time he should contest the election not from a reserved seat but from a general seat – so that the message goes out that he is now ready to lead the entire Bihar and not just one section," Bharti added. Earlier this week, Chirag Paswan hinted at contesting the Bihar Assembly polls while speaking to reporters, suggesting it was part of the LJP(RV) and BJP-led NDA's larger strategy. 'I have left this entirely to my party. If the party wants, I am ready to contest the Assembly elections. Currently, it is conducting a survey to figure out whether my candidacy will help my party, my candidates and my alliance. Just like Lok Sabha polls, our strike rate should be impressive in Bihar elections," he said. The Bihar Assembly polls, whose schedule is yet to be announced, are anticipated to be a head-to-head battle between the NDA and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan, although some opinion polls suggest Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj party could play a significant role. First Published: June 01, 2025, 13:37 IST
Indian Express
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Why Chirag Paswan's ‘Bihar first' refrain has caused a flutter in NDA before polls
Union Minister of Food Processing Industries and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan has created ripples in Bihar politics in the run-up to the state Assembly elections by reiterating that his top priority was Bihar which, he said, was 'calling' him. Chirag told a news channel a few days ago, 'My focus is on Bihar first, Bihari first. My state is calling me.' Earlier, at the Express Adda on April 8, Chirag had asserted that he believed in the concept of 'Bihar first' and 'Bihari first', saying 'I also have MY (Mahila and Yuva) formula. Out of my five MPs, two are women. I talk about 14 crore Biharis… The moment Biharis come out of Bihar and outside caste, they do so well in every field – media, corporates and bureaucracy.' Replying to a question then, Chirag had also said: 'My father (late Ram Vilas Paswan, a prominent Dalit leader and ex-Union minister) was interested in national politics. But unlike my father, I want to see myself in state politics.' He, however, did not set any timeline for his plunge into Bihar politics or for contesting the state Assembly elections. The 42-year-old three-term MP, Chirag is a key ally of the ruling NDA which would be led in the Assembly elections, slated for October-November this year, by Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar. The LJP(RV) chief's repeated bid to highlight his 'Bihar first' approach has come at a time when various NDA allies are engaged in posturings ahead of the beginning of their seat-sharing negotiations for the Assembly polls. A smaller NDA ally, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), which has only one Lok Sabha MP, has been demanding 40 seats out of the state's 243 for the Assembly polls. This was spelt out by HAM(S) chief and Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi at a recent public function. An LJP(RV) leader told The Indian Express: 'We were given one seat less by the NDA in the last year's Lok Sabha polls and were told that we would be compensated in the 2025 Assembly elections. The NDA should also look at our 100% strike rate in the Lok Sabha polls, when we won all five seats allotted to us. The NDA won 30 Lok Sabha seats of 40 in Bihar. If one divides 243 seats by the NDA's Lok Sabha tally, it comes to eight Assembly seats for each Lok Sabha seat. By this yardstick, we should be given 40 seats in the Assembly polls.' Another LJP(RV) leader conceded that Chirag's recent Bihar-centric remarks had been part of their strategy to claim a 'respectable share' in the seats for contesting the Assembly polls. 'One thing is clear: Chirag Paswan is not contesting in this election. He might well have set his eye on the 2030 Assembly polls though,' he said. After facing a huge setback in 2021 when his party split following his father's demise, Chirag made a remarkable comeback in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls with the LJP (RV) winning all five seats it contested in Bihar, with the bigger NDA allies BJP and JD(U) winning 12 seats each out of 17 seats and 16 they respectively contested. In contrast, the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan won altogether 9 seats. Ahead of the 2020 Assembly polls, the Chirag-led LJP had walked out of NDA and fought the polls on its own. Of the 135 seats the LJP contested then, the party fielded its candidates against the JD(U) in 115 seats. The JD (U) had later alleged a 'BJP hand' behind Chirag's move. Though the LJP won only one seat (Matihani, Begusarai), it ended up damaging the JD (U), which was reduced from 71 seats in the 2015 polls to just 43 seats in 2020 – much below the BJP's 74 seats. The LJP garnered 5.66% votes, which was more than several other smaller state parties like the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (1.77%), CPI (ML) Liberation (3.16%), Vikassheel Insaan Party (1.56%) and HAM-S (0.89%). The BJP and JD(U) camps have linked Chirag's 'Bihar is calling me' pitch to his 'bargaining bid for more seats' in the Assembly polls. A BJP leader said: 'Unless a party has at least 15% vote share, it would not dare to contest on its own in Bihar. Chirag Paswan knows that he had proved only a spoiler in the 2020 polls. He is well placed now as a Union Minister and we do not think that he would attempt any bravado at this stage.' Without mentioning Chirag, senior BJP leader and Bihar Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha, while replying to a question, told reporters in Patna Sunday: 'No actor would become Bihar CM. Only a grounded politician deserves this position'. Notably, Chirag had started his career as a film actor but quit after doing a couple of films. A JD (U) leader said, 'Chirag had damaged us in many seats in 2020. But this time, he is strongly with us and we hope for a very good mutual conversion of votes.' He said Chirag may play a bigger role in the 2030 Assembly polls as 'political equations could change drastically by that time and there could be fresh realignments then too'.
