PATNA: The Lok Janshkati Party (LJP) under Chirag Paswan appears all set to break away from the NDA in Bihar and contest the assembly polls on its own.
Chirag, who on Saturday sought people’s “blessings” for his party’s ‘Bihar first Bihari first’ vision document and heaped praise on PM Narendra Modi, has made it amply clear that his main grouse is against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar-led JD(U).
The seat-sharing talks in the NDA have been stuck because Chirag has proved to be a tough bargainer and has been adamant on contesting 130 seats and fighting against JD-U contestants.
The LJP, which survives on Dalit politics, had won only two of the 42 seats in contested in 2015. Yet, the party has been surprisingly assertive under Chirag’s leadership.
D M Diwakar, political analyst and former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Research, said smaller parties in both the NDA and the Grand Alliance are showing unbridled ambitions.
“The stand taken by the LJP or the VIP on seat-sharing is nothing but manifestation of excess ambition to acquire power without expanding the base on the ground,” Dr R K Varma, another political observer and president of Patna unit of Political Administration Association said.
In Bihar, voters belonging to Dalits, extreme backward castes and other backward classes constitute 56% of total electorate. While the BJP in a fix over the seat-sharing stalemate, some leaders feel the LJP’s exit would benefit the party vis-à-vis JD-U.
“The ultimate loser will be JD-U against which the LJP seems to have gone all-out,” said a leader.
The ties between the LJP and the JD-U nosedived when Chirag started getting vocal against law and order under Nitish rule.
JD-U MP Lallan Singh, in turn, accused the LJP scion of being a ‘Kalidas’ and chopping the branch on which he was sitting.
“The LJP retaliated and now seems to have taken it as a personal issue and a matter of prestige,” said Bal Raam, a political researcher.
Bihar BSP president quits party, joins RJD
The BSP which is part of a three-party alliance headed by Upendra Kushwaha of RLSP for Bihar polls, suffered a setback when its state unit president Bharat Bind quit and joined RJD.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav gave party membership to the BSP leader. Yadav released a picture admitting Bind into the party on his Twitter handle.