PATNA: A day after the poll results, LJP chief Chirag Paswan appeared to soften up on his bête noir Nitish Kumar, saying he has no personal score to settle with the JD-U chief. But he gave the entire credit of the NDA’s victory in Bihar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone.
Maintaining that his party’s objective has been achieved, Chirag thanked the people of Bihar for polling around 25 lakh votes for his party candidates. The LJP had contested 135 seats on its own, but managed to win only one.
However, the party damaged the prospects of the JD-U candidates in nearly 28 seats, reducing the numerical strength of that party to 43 seats out of 115 seats it contested.
Chirag Paswan told the media that his party lost “nothing,” but raised its vote base by 6%.
“I would like to see BJP emerge stronger for the state’s development”, he said.
“The LJP went into this election with a resolution of ‘Bihar first Bihari first’. The party has been strengthened in every district. The party will surely be benefited in the future”, he said.
“The people of Bihar have reposed trust in respected Narendra Modi. From the results, it is clear that there is enthusiasm in the BJP. This is the victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” tweeted the LJP leader.
“Bihar has given a decisive mandate for PM Modi. We had said the same thing during our election campaigns. I had also said that I did not want Nitish Kumar to become the CM”, he said.
The LJP chief said the party would do better in the 2025 elections because “we have prepared the ground in this election”. He said the party’s aim was not to become a minister and stay in power.
“Had this been the objective, then we would have remained in alliance with the JD-U,” he said.
Meanwhile, JD-U spokesperson KC Tyagi accused Chirag of having damaged the JD-U on many seats.
“Chirag Paswan is the number one enemy of NDA”, he alleged.
BJP leader and Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi also blamed Chirag for helping the Opposition.