Chirag Paswan is now going to take on Nitish Kumar with renewed vigour after Nitish’s insults

74-year old Ram Vilas Paswan, the founder and leader of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) who enjoyed unparalleled camaraderie across different ends of the political spectrum passed away on Thursday after a prolonged illness. Paswan’s death comes at a time when Bihar and his party LJP is preparing for one of the closest contested election in the state’s history. His son Chirag Paswan has taken charge in his absence and has readily made the courageous move to step away from the NDA fold. However, it looks like the separation of LJP from NDA was fueled by Chirag’s hatred for JDU and Nitish Kumar who apparently insulted Ram Vilas Paswan even when he was in the last stretch of his life.

Chirag had written a letter to BJP chief J.P. Nadda on September 24, detailing all the “humiliation” meted out to the LJP leaders and especially his father by a puerile Nitish Kumar.

Consequently, Chirag on Thursday released the sensational letter which details the events that led to LJP’s ejections from the alliance in Bihar which had turned toxic due to Nitish Kumar’s heightened ego. LJP sources said the reason behind releasing the letter to the media is to explain the party’s decision behind walking out of the NDA alliance in Bihar and contesting on 143 seats in the elections to the 243-member assembly.

“During the seat-sharing talks with the BJP and the JD(U), I was present, along with my father. It was in the presence of then BJP chief Amit Shah that it was decided that Ram Vilas Ji would be given a Rajya Sabha ticket. But right before the nomination, Nitish Kumar refused to give his support for Ram Vilas Ji.” read the letter.

“Ram Vilas Ji was humiliated before the nomination and was forced to visit the CM residence to ask for his support. Even during the meeting between the two, the CM’s behaviour was not appropriate. Even during the nomination, Ram Vilas Ji requested Nitish Kumar to accompany him, but he did not come. It was only after passing of the auspicious period of filing nomination, that the CM came,” Chirag further wrote in his letter to Nadda.

“I will narrate another incident to you. The CM was addressing a press conference, and when he was asked about Ram Vilas Ji’s health, he expressed his ignorance. This was surprising that he was not aware of my father’s health. When the prime minister enquired about my father’s health, and even when the vice president and speaker did, the chief minister did not,” he further wrote.

Chirag Paswan had started his political career under the tutelage of his father, and under Ram Vilas’s guidance, he rose to the top echelons of the power corridor. A grieving son driven by vengeance for his father could prove to be the undoing for JDU. The popular sentiment has already started to swing in favour of Chirag and his party. The voters are acknowledging that a power-hungry Nitish Kumar did bad to his father and in the coming 20 days it could be one of the biggest poll planks for LJP.

“Papa, you are no more in this world but I know you are with me wherever you are. Miss you papa,” an emotional Chirag Paswan had tweeted.

Chirag Paswan has become very popular in the state in the last few years, especially after the Coronavirus lockdown when he directly took on Nitish Kumar on the migrants’ issue and gave popular slogans such as “Bihar first, Bihari first”.

He has held back no punches when it has come to cornering JDU and Nitish Kumar. He has constantly brought up the issue of the murder of Dalits in the last 15 years in the state and how the current regime hasn’t been able to provide jobs to the kin of the murdered. While JDU has brought Jitan Ram Manjhi to cover its Dalit base, Chirag Paswan has been steadily filling the deficit.

The LJP leader has made his intentions crystal clear that he is no longer content to play the second fiddle in the state. He has openly stated his loyalty to the BJP. Chirag will plan to cut into the JD(U) votes in the 143 seats that his party is contesting and emerge a kingmaker in case the NDA falls short of a majority.

If BJP can win 80-90 seats out of 121 it is contesting, and LJP wins 25-35 seats out of 143 it has decided to contest, they can form the government on their own without any support from Nitish Kumar’s party. Even if the alliance needs a few MLAs to form the government, the leaders in JD(U) camp would be more than willing to support a BJP CM as many of them themselves do not like Nitish Kumar who is stuck with CM chair for last one and a half decades and is not giving chance to young leaders to come forward in the hierarchy.

JDU is on the back foot here after Ram Vilas Paswan’s passing as the ‘Sushasan-Babu’ party will have to tone down his attacks on the young leader at the risk of coming across as insensitive and opportunistic.

However, a grieving Chirag Paswan will stop at nothing than to take down Nitish Kumar and his insipid rule of over 15-years over the state which he has practically run into the ground.