Internal discord in INDIA bloc strengthens NDA in Bihar, says Chirag

Patna: Union minister and LJP (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan on Tuesday said the internal discord in the opposition INDIA bloc has strengthened the NDA in Bihar as its allies display “complete disagreement among themselves.”In an exclusive interview with TOI, Chirag dismissed the notion of ‘friendly fights’ in some constituencies, attributing confusion among opposition workers to the absence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the campaign and the failure to reach consensus. “It seems Rahul is avenging the way RJD harassed Congress on seats in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.Asked about his personal and political future, Chirag said he had no answer for the personal question but envisions a bigger role in Bihar politics by 2030.

“I believe in meditation and am focused on the 2025 polls. My reason for coming into politics will remain a Bihari. I wanted to contest this election, but could not get enough time to decide due to the delay in seat-sharing. For now, CM Nitish Kumar is the ‘dulha’ of the NDA and we will achieve the target of 160+ set by union home minister Amit Shah and are trying to reach the goal of winning 225 seats in 2025,” he said.Chirag denied any trust deficit with CM Nitish Kumar, saying they are working “hand in glove” and will campaign together after Chhath.

“It’s true that our party is contesting the Bihar assembly election with JD(U) for the first time. But my fight is for the bigger goal of ‘Bihar First, Bihari First’. I don’t have anything against Nitish ji as I can understand his anger, which was natural due to the 2020 election results when my party contested 137 seats in Bihar,” he added, referring to the reduction of JD(U) seats from 71 in 2015 to 43 in the last polls.On the role of floating voters and Prashant Kishor’s criticisms, Chirag recalled his 2020 election campaign.

“But my party won only one seat. So, floating voters decide if their votes will count in decision-making and policy. Suppose someone wins with no chance of becoming part of the govt, what would they do for the constituency? Ultimately, they vote in favour of or against the ruling alliance,” he said.Chirag also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allocating 29 out of 243 seats to his party despite it having no sitting MLA. Speaking about seat-sharing within the NDA, he said, “I wanted at least 100 seats for BJP and no less than that of JD(U). So, the rest of the 43 seats had to be shared among the other three partners – LJP(RV), HAM(S) and RLM. There was no issue about the numbers. It took a long time to decide the constituencies.

I am happy to get many of my choice seats.”