'Nitish Kumar's party is no.3 in Bihar': Chirag Paswan mocks JDU as BJP says no to tie-up

As BJP rebuffed ally JDU's offer of contesting the Uttar Pradesh election together, LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan mocked the Bihar-based party. Speaking to the media on Sunday, Paswan highlighted that there was no necessity for BJP to pay heed to JDU anymore as it has been reduced to the no.3 party in Bihar. Moreover, he ridiculed the party for seeking to fight the Assembly polls in UP citing that Nitish Kumar had no vote bank there. 

Jamui MP Chirag Paswan remarked, "They (JDU) had to contest alone. BJP is not going to pay attention to (JDU). What base does Nitish Kumar have in Uttar Pradesh? His party is no.3 in Bihar. And yet it wants to contest polls in Uttar Pradesh!" 

Confirming that JDU will go solo in an exclusive conversation with Republic TV a day earlier, its spokesperson KC Tyagi said, “We are the oldest and most trusted ally of the BJP since the inception of NDA. Last elections also, we contested together. But the day before yesterday we were told that the BJP will only hold an alliance with Apna Dal and Nishad party. Therefore, we decided to go alone".

While BJP and JDU are allies in Bihar as well as at the Centre, they usually tend to fight polls in other states separately. 

JDU's diminished role in Bihar

The 2020 Bihar Assembly election witnessed a voter turnout of 57.05% against the 56.66% in the 2015 polls. The polls turned out to be a nail-biting contest, with NDA emerging victorious in 125 seats against the 110 seats won by the Mahagatbandhan. BJP, RJD, JD(U) and Congress won 74, 75, 43, and 19 seats respectively.

BJP winning more seats than JD(U) for the first time in a Bihar Assembly election led to the speculation that JD(U)'s clout in the alliance will reduce. LJP is believed to have damaged JD(U)'s prospects in 32 seats despite bagging a solitary seat. While Kumar again took oath as the CM of Bihar, BJP has two Deputy CMs in 4-time MLAs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi. 

Uttar Pradesh election

The upcoming election shall be held in 7 phases - February 10, February 14, February 20, February 23, February 27, March 3 and March 7, whereas the counting of votes shall take place on March 10. With 15,05,82,750 registered voters on the electoral rolls, the polling stations have been increased to 1,74,351. In view of the COVID-19 situation, all physical rallies and roadshows have been banned until January 15, and the polling time has been increased by 1 hour.