LJP in talks with BJP to fight Lok Sabha polls in Jharkhand

RANCHI: The Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) has informally requested its NDA ally, BJP, for clearance to contest in a few parliamentary seats of Jharkhand in the upcoming parliamentary elections, party leader Chirag Paswan said here on Sunday. LJP, which has six MPs, unanimously passed a resolution to support the BJP in upcoming Lok Sabha polls during its national executive meeting here. Leader of the party and Chirag Paswan’s father, Ram Vilas Paswan, skipped the second and final day of the meet.
The junior Paswan, who attended the concluding day of the party meeting held at a banquet hall in Dhurwa here, said LJP has recently held an informal discussion with BJP president Amit Shah about the prospects of fielding candidates in Jharkhand.He, however, did not elaborate about BJP’s response to his request.
He said, “We have a strong supporters’ base in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. In the 2014 state assembly , we even contested in a seat here. An informal discussion has been made on the basis of our supporters base.” He added that the party will be happy to support BJP candidates in Jharkhand, if the party does not get any seat to contest.
During the party meeting, Paswan said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hands need to be strengthened.” Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he added, “The ‘Modi Wave’ was equally strong as it was in 2014 and the alliances being made by the opposition parties will fizzle out soon after the dates of parliamentary election are announced.”
While he urged party workers to take the word of Modi government’s pro-poor schemes to the voters of their respective constituencies, Paswan also announced that LJP will contest in every election after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “We want to redefine our party. We have units in every state, but could not fight the polls. After 2019, we will contest in every poll in every state, be it urban local body elections or the state assembly polls,” Paswan said.
Emphasizing on the need to strengthen LJP’s social media footprint, he said, “My father is much more active than me on social media. He keeps talking to people and karyakartas through his Facebook and Twitter accounts. We must learn from him.”
Lalu Prasad’s RJD and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) are also scouting for prospects to field candidates in Jharkhand for the parliamentary elections. While RJD is staking claim for Palamu, Chatra and Koderma seats in the grand alliance of opposition, JD(U) has reportedly announced to go solo, but finer modalities of its election process is likely to be made final by February end.