LJP president Chirag Paswan said on Saturday that it belonged to the saffron party and it had been liberal to take a choice about whom to field. The seat had fallen vacant following the death of Ram Vilas Paswan. The BJP has nominated former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi for the seat.
Sushil Modi is probably going to win uncontested unless the opposition Grand Alliance fields a candidate to challenge him. Therein event, the polling will happen on December 14.
A union minister, Ram Vilas Paswan had got elected from the seat last year after it fell vacant following his cabinet colleague Shankar Prasad’s election to the Lok Sabha from Patna Sahib. “The seat belonged to the BJP and it’s for the party to make a decision which candidate from which party to field within the by-election,” Chirag Pawas told reporters at a function held to celebrate his party’s 20th foundation day.
Chastened by the drubbing within the recent Bihar elections, Chirag Paswan asked the party rank and file to fix for subsequent assembly polls, which could happen “any time”. He reiterated it during a letter addressed to LJP workers and shared with the media.
Responding to questions, Paswan maintained that he saw “fresh elections happening any time in Bihar, given the way the new government is functioning”. During a written message to party workers, Paswan defended his decision to travel solo within the assembly polls, saying, “We had to form a choice between accepting the NDA’s offer of only 15 seats despite being a celebration with six members within the Lok Sabha and one within the Rajya Sabha, or engage during a friendly fight to preserve our honour”.
In the one-page letter, Paswan avoided making any remark against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD (U) boss whom he had targeted during the elections and repeatedly.
Heating exchange between Chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav on the ground of the assembly. On this Paswan said heating exchanges from each side and many personal attacks were made. I don’t think the discourse in Bihar assembly has ever touched such depths,”
The LJP chief, under whose stewardship the party fought quite half the seats within the 243-strong assembly but won just one, tried to perk up his supporters and asked them to specialise in the brilliant side
This time, we were alone, without a military of star campaigners to canvass in our favour. But we secured 28 lakh votes and now our party is being talked about across the state, Paswan said in his letter. “It was the dream of the LJP founder, my late father, to assist the party come of its own. We’ve taken a step therein direction. Let’s keep marching,