Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan who considers himself an ally of BJP but contested elections separately. He lost. But he is happy with the results.
“I thank Narendra Modi ji. It is because of him that the NDA government is being formed in Bihar. I am sure he will lead Bihar on the path of development,” said Paswan whose party won only one seat out of 143 seats it contested in Bihar.
Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), is an NDA component at the Centre, had fought the polls separately. Yet, the LJP mainly fielded candidates against the JD(U), not the BJP.
Chirag Paswan is a big on Nitish Kumar’s anti incumbency movement. He supports the BJP but is in direct opposition of its ally the JDU.
Paswan has said, “There will never be my support for Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi. If he continues to become the chief minister of my state, there will not be my support at the state level. We will continue supporting PM Modi at the Centre.”
“I am happy that Bihar gave love to LJP, around 25 Lakh voters trusted ‘Bihar First, Bihari First’ and we secured about 6 percent votes while contesting alone. We were called ‘pichhlaggu party’ that can do something only with other’s support. We showed courage,”Paswan added.
Expressing satisfaction on LJP’s performance in Bihar, Paswan said the circumstances in which his party contested the elections were very difficult.
“The day my father died, I got the list of BJP’s candidates. Deciding on which seats we will field our candidates was difficult for me at that time. Because of the rituals after my father’s death I could not step out of my house for campaigning for 10 days. But still, my party performed well,” Paswan told reporters.
“We were close to victory in a few seats. But I can say our party performed well. The Bihar mandate has given us an indication that we are close to our 2025 target,” he added.
While the NDA did win, RJD’s Tejashwi gave a tough fight. The fact that he had rattled such a big party like the BJP is a story in itself.
RJD was in alliance with Congress and other left parties. The RJD alone collected a lot of votes and hence NDA won with only a slim margin.
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It is yet to be seen if Nitish Kumar regains his Chief Minister post as promised to him by the BJP. The party is on two sides on the Nitish Kumar matter. While one has promised him his chair, the others are reluctant.