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The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), led by Chirag Paswan, may have got just one seat in the Bihar Assembly after the recent election, but the party has managed to damage the chances of both the ruling NDA and the Opposition’s grand alliance (Maha Gathbandhan). The party bagged 5.66 per cent votes, an increase of about 0.83 per cent than the 2015 elections.
According to BJP leader and State Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, the LJP took at least 25 seats from the NDA’s kitty. Had the BJP succeeded in placating Paswan, the NDA’s road to victory would have been much more comfortable.
The LJP contested 42 seats in 2015 and won two. But in 2020, it contested 137 seats. The party had claimed that it’s trying to teach Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a lesson and most of its candidates were against the JD(U).
Paswan claimed on Wednesday that his decision left the BJP strengthened. “We never concealed our intentions. We believed the JD(U) headed by Kumar needed to be weakened and we succeeded. We wanted to make the BJP stronger, and its heft has increased unquestionably,” Paswan said.
Paswan said he was happy about the BJP’s performance. He ruled out any possibility of a truck with the grand alliance due to “ideological differences” and maintained that he will continue with the NDA.
“If anybody deserves to be congratulated on the NDA’s victory in Bihar, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi. People have reposed their trust in his leadership and his vision for ‘Atmanirbhar Bihar’ We always wanted to see a government in the State headed by the BJP and supported by the LJP. But we respect the mandate given by the people,” Paswan said, and added that Kumar as the CM is not good for Bihar.
“It is another thing that the NDA in Bihar — comprising the BJP, the JD(U) and two smaller parties — have the numbers and does not need our support,” he added.
‘LJP cheated BJP’
BJP’s general secretary in-charge of Bihar Bhupender Yadav agreed that the confusion created by the LJP caused some losses to the NDA. “The LJP has chosen its own path, and in a way, it cheated the NDA. The people of Bihar have conveyed to them their importance in the State politics,” he said.
In more than a dozen seats, the LJP damaged the prospects of the grand alliance, too. The BJP was also not spared in some seats. The grand alliance had tried to reach out to the LJP earlier, but did not succeed to bring it on board. The popular notion is that the BJP was keen in fielding the LJP against the JD(U) so that the saffron party can emerge the largest party in the alliance. The BJP, however, has denied all such notions.
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