Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) focuses on expanding base in the state, so that it can bargain big before the 2024 polls.
New Delhi: Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) chief and Member of Parliament from Bihar’s Jamui constituency Chirag Paswan is keeping all his options open in Bihar politics as he tries to strengthen party’s organizational base across the state, so the party would be able to bargain big with larger political parties in Bihar before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Sources privy to the party’s strategy confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that Chirag Paswan is in no hurry to join hands with any political party and instead is focusing on expanding the base of his organization. Arun Kumar, a former parliamentarian, was also inducted in the party last month in an attempt to expand the party’s base.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Raju Tiwari, LJP (Ramvilas) state president said, “We are focusing on expanding the base of the party in the state. In the coming Bihar Legislative Council polls, we are fighting the elections independently. We are not in a hurry to form an alliance with other political parties. It is up to our national president Chirag Paswan to take a call on alliance as and when he thinks suitable in the interest of the party.” He added, “Our primary aim now is to highlight the failure of Nitish Kumar, raise the issues of unemployment and problems of law and order in the state. Recently we have organized a march from Gandhi Maidan to the Governor’s house which was stopped by the administration on the orders of the Bihar government. Our leader Chirag Paswan will once again set out for a ‘Bihar Bachao Yatra’ to save the state as Nitish Kumar has failed on all fronts.”
Political analysts and observers who are closely watching the developments argue that Chirag Paswan is trying to create space for himself in the bipolar politics of Bihar which is dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Janata Dal (United) alliance on one hand and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on the other. Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Santosh Kumar Singh, a Patna based political commentator said, “Chirag Paswan is keeping all his options open. He knows well that after the split in his own ranks, every big political party might not give him desired representation in seat sharing. Moreover, RJD would want him to play second fiddle to Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. Hence, Chirag Paswan wants to expand his own influence across the state and bring a large section of Upper Castes with the party. A combination of sections of Scheduled Castes and Upper Castes will help him to bargain big with any political party in future before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. One more point is that Chirag Paswan is closely watching the relationship between the BJP-JD(U), which is not very comfortable presently.” The state parliamentary board of LJP (Ramvilas) had recommended previously to the national president to contest any upcoming elections in an alliance that includes the Bihar legislative Council polls. But, Chirag Paswan is focusing on the big picture.
In the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, Lok Janshakti Party played the role of spoiler and got roughly six percent overall votes in the state while only fighting 135 assembly segments in the state. It is widely believed that the party damaged Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United) big time as the party tally came down to 43 seats.
LJP was only able to win one assembly seat in the state assembly and even that lone member Raj Kumar Singh joined the JD(U) after a few months of elections. In July last year, the party had split into two parts with one faction led by Ramvilas Paswan’s younger brother and Chirag Paswan’s uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras, rebelling against him while the other faction is led by Chirag Paswan.