'Chirag Paswan instrumental in Tejashwi's victory from Raghopur': JD(U) fires fresh salvo

Stepping up its attack on Chirag Paswan on Saturday, JD(U) claimed that the LJP national president was instrumental in the victory of RJD's Tejashwi Yadav in the Bihar Assembly polls. The Mahagatbandhan's CM candidate had trounced BJP's Satish Kumar Yadav by more than 38,000 votes to comfortably win the Raghopur seat. Speaking to the media, JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar reiterated the charge that Paswan had damaged the prospects of JD(U) in the state Assembly election. He added that both the people and political leaders are aware of what transpired in the run-up to the polls. 

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LJP's role in the Bihar polls

The 2020 Bihar Assembly election turned out to be a nail-biting contest with NDA emerging victorious in 125 seats as against that of 110 seats won by the Mahagatbandhan. BJP, RJD, JD(U), Congress won 74, 75, 43 and 19 seats respectively. With 4 seats each, VIP and HAM (S) had a crucial role to play in the ruling alliance breaching the majority mark. Similarly, AIMIM made a huge mark in Bihar politics as 5 of its candidates were declared winners.

After deciding to go solo in the polls, LJP chief Chirag Paswan had been at the forefront of openly opposing Nitish Kumar while lauding PM Modi at the same time. For instance, Paswan said that he was the PM's Hanuman and repeatedly asserted that LJP and BJP will form the next government in Bihar. This set rumour mills abuzz about BJP's alleged tacit understanding with LJP to marginalise JD(U) within the alliance. While LJP managed to bag just one seat with a vote share of 5.66%, a closer look at its performance suggests that it foiled JD(U)'s chances of emerging as the single-largest party.

As per the EC data, LJP secured more votes than the winning party's victory margin over JD(U) in the aforesaid 32 constituencies. This essentially implies that JD(U)'s chances of potentially winning these seats would have increased manifold if LJP remained a part of the NDA alliance in Bihar. It assumes significance as JD(U) no longer has an upper hand in the alliance at the state level. 

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