Nitish Kumar meets Chirag days after his 'ignored by CM' rant

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Lok Janshakti Party chief Chirag Paswan on Tuesday at the Shraad ceremony of his father and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan following bitter accusations that assume significance in view of the current election dynamics in the state. The chief minister met Chirag at the LJP office in Patna, reported ANI.

Paswan Junior had earlier said in an interview to NDTV he was hurt by the chief minister’s stance after his father passed away. He claimed Kumar had not expressed condolences to either him or his mother, and rather snubbed him. He said though Kumar had paid tribute to his father’s body at the airport, the CM had ignored him despite him touching his feet.

The election dynamics in Bihar has changed this time due to the LJP’s deciding to fight the elections alone, making its differences with Nitish Kumar-headed Janata Dal (United) clear and abandoning the NDA ship steered by the BJP. However, Paswan has claimed loyalty to BJP, going to the extent of calling himself the “Hanuman of PM Modi”.

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JD(U) remains part of the BJP-led NDA coalition in Bihar and are fighting the elections on a seat-sharing agreement along with smaller allies. BJP has announced Nitish Kumar as the CM face of the NDA. With LJP’s solo entry, the battle has now become a three-pronged one with the RJD-Congress being the third contender. The LJP has reportedly made it clear that it will field candidates in a way to best thwart the chances of the JD(U).

Interestingly, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, son of former CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, has tried his best to add salt to Chirag’s apparent wounds by harping on the Nitish factor. “What Nitish Kumar Ji did with Chirag Paswan was not good. Chirag Paswan needs his father at this time more than ever before but Ram Vilas Paswan is not among us and we are sad about it. The way Nitish Kumar behaved…did injustice to Chirag Paswan,” he said a day earlier.

The elections to the 243-member Bihar assembly will be held in three phases – October 28, November 3 and 7 – and the results will be declared on November 10.

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