WILL LJP(R) CONTEST ELECTIONS ALONE IN BIHAR?

WILL LJP(R) CONTEST ELECTIONS ALONE IN BIHAR?

7-SEP-ENG 9

RAJIV NAYANN AGRAWAL

PATNA--------------------------Chirag Paswan has said many times in the recent past that if there is a seat sharing in the NDA, he wants a respectable share. Now Arun Bharti has given a big political signal regarding this.

An important signal has emerged in Bihar politics regarding the future of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas). LJP (R) chief Chirag Paswan's brother-in-law and Jamui MP Arun Bharti has given a big statement regarding the upcoming Bihar Assembly Elections 2025. Sharing a post on social media, he clearly described the party workers as the "backbone" and reminded of the experiences of 2020.

Arun Bharti wrote in his post, the workers are the real backbone of our party. It is the natural expectation of the workers who work hard for the party that one day they too get an opportunity to serve the people by becoming a public representative on behalf of the party. In 2020, when we could not fulfill this sentiment and expectations of our workers due to coalition dharma, we took the bold decision to contest the elections alone. This was not just electoral politics, but respect for the sentiments of our workers.

He further wrote that even though we were able to win only one seat in that election, the truth is that we got 6% votes by contesting on 137 seats. If we had contested on all 243 seats, our vote percentage would have been more than 10%. This was a living proof of the strength of our workers and the trust of the public. In fact, this has been a part of our strategic move and political character. 2020 made it clear that if any party in Bihar politics had the capacity to contest elections alone, it was only the Lok Janshakti Party.

Political analysts are seeing this post of Arun Bharti as an indication of LJP (R)'s strategy for the 2025 assembly elections. The special thing is that this statement has come at a time when all the major parties in Bihar are laying their electoral chessboard.

This statement has also indicated that LJP (R) can again contest elections separately from NDA, or at least is making its intention clear as a strategy to put pressure in the seat sharing. It is worth noting that in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, LJP (R) contested alone on 137 out of 243 seats. Although the party could win only one seat, its vote share was 5.66%, which harmed the NDA on many seats and affected the election results.

Chirag Paswan has said many times in the past that if there is a seat sharing in the NDA, then he wants a respectable share. He has advocated at least 40 assembly seats for LJP (R). In the last Lok Sabha elections, Chirag's party contested on 5 seats and his candidates were successful on all seats. After this spectacular victory, Chirag now wants to perform in the same way in the assembly elections in Bihar for which he is demanding more and more seats. Amidst all this, Arun Bharti has given a big political signal.