Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “demeaning” behaviour towards Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) patriarch Ram Vilas Paswan during the Rajya Sabha elections was one of the key reasons for the LJP to raise a flag of rebellion against him.
LJP president Chirag Paswan, in a six-page letter to BJP president J.P. Nadda on September 24, 10 days prior to formal decision by his party to go solo, had explained his party’s position.
At a joint press conference by the BJP and the JD(U) to announce the NDA’s seat sharing arrangement, Mr. Kumar, answering a question on the political battle with the LJP, had said, “Could Ram Vilas Paswan get his Rajya Sabha seat without the assistance of JD(U)? Could they have managed a Rajya Sabha seat on the basis of their two MLAs? It was only because of the assistance of BJP and JD(U) [that Ram Vilas Paswan could get an RS seat].”
In the 2015 Assembly elections, the LJP fought 42 seats but managed to win only two with less than five per cent vote share.
In his letter, Mr. Chirag Paswan said his father Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan was mistreated by Mr. Kumar. During the discussion on seat distribution ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which then BJP president Amit Shah, Mr. Kumar, Mr. Chirag Paswan along with his father were present, it was decided that the LJP will get six Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat. But just before the nomination process began, Mr. Chirag Paswan said the Bihar Chief Minister changed tack and refused to support Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan’s nomination claiming that he was not told about any such arrangement.
Mr. Chirag Paswan goes on to say in the letter that his father was forced to go to the Chief Minister’s residence to seek his support despite prior agreement. Mr. Kumar did not behave appropriately with Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan when he went to visit him. The Bihar Chief Minister, Mr. Chirag Paswan said, snubbed his father and despite many requests did not go to the Assembly to file the nomination papers with him. Mr. Kumar did come to the Assembly, but in his own car and after the scheduled time.
Mr. Chirag Paswan said Mr. Kumar’s subsequent statements about his father were equally dismissive, including claiming ignorance about Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan’s ill health while Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been in constant touch with him to enquire about his father.
