8 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
'Voters will decide my seat': LJP Ram Vilas chief Chirag Paswan confirms Bihar Assembly run
PATNA: Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and Union Minister Chirag Paswan on Sunday announced that he would contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, but he did not name his constituency, saying he would leave that decision to the people of Bihar.
Addressing the 'Nav Sankalp Sabha' organized by his party in Ara, Bhojpur district, Chirag said, 'Yes. I will contest elections from Bihar, for Bihar, and for the people of Bihar. I will contest polls from all 243 seats. The people of Bihar will decide from which seat I should contest.'
He added, 'After losing my father, my own people- my uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras, ousted me from my house. Now, the people are my family.'
Sounding the poll bugle from Ara, in the Shahabad region, a challenging electoral terrain for the NDA, Chirag, son of the late Ram Vilas Paswan, said he would not just contest elections in Bihar, but would do so for Bihar and its people.
He said that he would realize his father's dreams and work under the slogan 'Bihar First, Bihari First.' He had previously released the party's 'Bihar First and Bihari First' manifesto for the 2020 Assembly elections.
'At the rally, he vowed, 'I will not rest until I make Bihar a developed state.' He claimed that 'jungle raj' prevailed not only during the RJD's 15-year rule, but also during Congress's 10-year rule (1980–90). He recalled that RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav took over in 1990, and that during the Congress–RJD regime several massacres occurred in the state.
Chirag added that Bihar has made tremendous progress under the double-engine government, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for their various initiatives toward the state's growth.
He also clarified that he is not aspiring to be Chief Minister; his decision to contest from an unreserved seat 'should not be construed as an ambition to become CM.'
'There is no vacancy for the post of CM,' he had said earlier.
