Patna: Lok Janshakti Party – Ram Vilas (LJP-R) president and Union Minister Chirag Paswan is yet to decide whether he will contest the Bihar assembly elections himself or not. Chirag Paswan has said that first the seat-sharing should be done as to which party got how many and which seats, then his party’s central parliamentary board will decide whether he should contest the elections or not. By saying ‘Bihar is calling’, Chirag had created an atmosphere of jumping into the race for the post of Chief Minister with Sankalp Sabhas before the elections, but later he made it clear that Nitish Kumar is the CM and will remain the CM in future too.
During Chirag Paswan’s initial rallies, it was rumored that he might contest from a seat in Ara. His brother-in-law and party MP Arun Bharti also fueled such speculation. However, when Chirag Paswan suggested that a party worker should fill the Deputy CM position, it was understood that unless Chirag Paswan had a clear direct claim to the CM position, he would not contest but would instead nominate a candidate from his party. Arun Bharti’s name has been discussed, and the seat is said to be Sikandra, where Prafull Manjhi of Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party, HAM, is the sitting MLA.
Chirag Paswan said on Tuesday, “Once seat sharing is finalized, all these issues are pending before our Central Parliamentary Board, and the final decision will be taken by the Central Parliamentary Board. All opinions on whether to contest or not have been received by the Central Parliamentary Board. First, it is important to clarify how many seats Lok Janshakti Ram Vilas is contesting. What will the alliance look like? Who will contest from where? Not only the number of seats, but also the selection of seats is a priority. Once the situation becomes clear on all these issues, it will be decided whether I will contest the assembly elections or not. And which other MPs from my party will contest the assembly elections.”
