Chirag Paswan, the president of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), declared on Monday that the party would not participate in the upcoming bypolls for the Mokama and Gopalganj Assembly constituencies in Bihar. Emphasizing a clear stance, he stated that the party would not align with any coalition that includes the JD(U) as a partner.
During a national executive meeting, the party decided to contest the subsequent Lok Sabha or Assembly elections as part of a coalition. In the 2020 Assembly polls, the party contested 137 candidates, significantly impacting the JD(U)’s results.
Chirag Paswan clarified his opposition to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s policies and affirmed that any coalition involving Nitish Kumar would not receive support from him or the LJP. The RJD has already fielded candidates in both bypoll seats due to the demise of Gopalganj MLA Subhash Singh and the disqualification of Mokama legislator Anant Singh from the RJD.
Chirag Paswan informed reporters that in future elections, whether for the Lok Sabha or Assembly, the LJP (Ram Vilas) would not go solo. However, the decision on which coalition to join would be made closer to the polls. His decision to sever ties with the NDA had led to a split in the LJP founded by his father, Ram Vilas Paswan.
Pashupati Kumar Paras, Chirag’s uncle and Union minister, now leads the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party with the support of five out of six MPs elected from the undivided LJP in 2019. Chirag, the only member of his faction in the Lok Sabha, emphasized that coalitions in Bihar lacked value, as parties contest elections as part of one coalition and govern with another.
Chirag’s announcement that LJP (Ram Vilas) would not associate with the JD(U) suggests a potential willingness to rejoin the NDA, from which he had separated before the 2020 Assembly polls. Additionally, a resolution passed at the meeting called for the imposition of President’s rule in Bihar, citing elevated crime and corruption, attributing the state’s challenges to what they described as the “personal ambitions and wrong policies of CM Nitish Kumar.”
Furthermore, Chirag disclosed that LJP (Ram Vilas) would field candidates in the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.
