The Lone Ranger

By declaring that his party will field candidates in all 243 seats, is Chirag Paswan engaging in pressure politics to secure better seat-sharing, or is he looking to dent JD(U)'s prospects?

- By Md Asghar Khan

CHIRAG Paswan, the president of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), has, so far, managed to do one thing in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly elections—adding to speculation. His declaration that his party would field candidates in all 243 seats has prompted ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to offer their understanding of his statement—that he would contest under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold—while the Congress has predicted that he is all set to leave the ruling NDA post-elections, foreseeing a BJP defeat under Nitish Kumar's leadership.

The speculation deepened recently when Chirag—who is also a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, from Hajipur constituency and Minister of Food Processing Industries—lashed out at Nitish for the deteriorating condition of Bihar's law and order, calling it “beyond understanding”. His comments are the latest In a series of messages directed at the Nitesh government since he decided to contest all alone. While one can see hoardings and posters across the state capital Patna, projecting Chirag as the next chief minister, as per a poll survey, he is the fifth popular candidate for the post.

So, by deciding to field candidates in all seats, is Chirag looking to strengthen his position by keeping allies and the Opposition guessing ahead of the state elections or is he playing a larger political game? Either way, Nitish’s JD(U) will be watching his moves closely as it affects the party’s political prospects. The backstory? Ahead of the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, Chirag pulled out of the JD(U)-BJP alliance and declared that his party would contest solo. This turned out to be the single most important reason for the poor electoral performance of the JD(U). Though the LJP contested 135 seats on its own and managed to win only one, it damaged the prospects of the JD (U) candidates in nearly 28 seats, reducing the numerical strength of that party to 43 seats out of 115 seats it contested.