Chirag Paswan has warned the BJP-led NDA that it will settle for nothing less than 40-plus seats in the 2025 Bihar polls, even threatening to contest all 243 constituencies independently if sidelined.
Union Minister Chirag Paswan, who heads the Lok Janshakti Party-Ramvilas, an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, is adamant about contesting more than 40 of the 243 assembly seats in the Bihar assembly election due in November.
Ahead of the finalisation of the NDA's seat-sharing for the Bihar election, LJP-R leader Arun Bharti, the party's Lo Sabha MP from Jamui and Chirag Paswan's brother-in-law, on Sunday warned the NDA leadership that the LJP-R is capable of contesting all 243 seats on its own.
Bharti reminded the NDA leadership of his party's performance in the 2020 Bihar assembly election which it contested solo.
Bharti stated in a post on X that while the LJP-R won only one seat, the party contested from 137 assembly seats and its vote share was 6%.
'If we, the LJP-R, had contested from all 243 seats, our vote share could have easily reached over 10%. This is a reflection of the public support and faith our party enjoys. In the last Bihar assembly election, LJP-R made it clear that it was the only party that had the capacity to contest alone on its own,' Bharti wrote.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United blamed the LJP-R's decision to walk away from the NDA and contest the 2020 polls alone for damaging the JD-U's strike rate in that election.
The JD-U won only 43 seats despite contesting 115. The party's tally came down drastically, while its ally, the BJP, won 73 seats and emerged as the largest party in the ruling NDA.
Due to its poor performance, the JD-U was reduced to third position after the Rashtriya Janata Dal and BJP in the state assembly.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff