Bihar polls: Paswan’s 5th death anniversary to be show of strength for LJP(RV)

Union minister Chirag Paswan will lead the commemorative event at his father’s birthplace, Shaharbanni in Khagaria district

PATNA: The fifth death anniversary of former Union minister and Dalit stalwart Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday is set to be a show of strength for the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) ahead of the Bihar Assembly election. The party’s national president and Union food processing industries minister Chirag Paswan will lead the commemorative event at his father’s birthplace, Shaharbanni in Khagaria district.

Former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. (File Photo)

“Our party MPs — all five of them — along with national leaders from Bihar, state office-bearers, district presidents, committee heads and thousands of workers will attend the function,” said Rajesh Bhatt, LJP(RV)’s state chief spokesperson.

The event comes at a politically sensitive time, with the two-phase Bihar assembly elections scheduled for November 6 and 11. With candidate selection still pending, ticket aspirants are expected to turn up in large numbers at Khagaria.

People familiar with the matter said Chirag Paswan remains dissatisfied with the seat-sharing proposal offered by the BJP following a meeting with Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is also the BJP’s Bihar election in-charge, its national general secretary Vinod Tawde and Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The LJP(RV), buoyed by its clean sweep of all five parliamentary seats it contested last year, is reportedly eyeing more than 45 assembly constituencies as part of the NDA alliance.

The party’s electoral track record has been marked by fluctuating fortunes. In 2020, when the undivided LJP contested 134 seats outside the NDA, it won just one (Matihani assembly seat in Begusarai) and came second on nine seats, but dented the JD(U)’s prospects across several constituencies, reducing it to 43 seats. Five years earlier, as part of the NDA, it had contested 42 seats, winning two and finishing second in 36, when the JD(U) aligned with the Mahagathbandhan.

Meanwhile, political observers are speculating over whether Chirag’s estranged uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras, will attend Wednesday’s event. Paras, who broke away from Chirag to form the Rashtriya Lok Jan Shakti Party in 2021, quit the NDA in April this year to align with the Mahagathbandhan.

“The Khagaria gathering will not just commemorate a political patriarch but also set the tone for the party’s bid to reclaim its influence in Bihar’s shifting political landscape,” said political analyst Gyanendra Yadav, a professor of sociology at Patna’s College of Commerce, Arts and Science.