India News | Chirag Paswan to Support NDA in Kurhani By-poll
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Former Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan Wednesday declared his support to the BJP-led NDA in the by-election to Kurhani assembly seat of Bihar, which has been necessitated by the disqualification of RJD MLA Anil Sahani.
Patna, Nov 9 (PTI) Former Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan Wednesday declared his support to the BJP-led NDA in the by-election to Kurhani assembly seat of Bihar, which has been necessitated by the disqualification of RJD MLA Anil Sahani.
Paswan, who had campaigned for BJP candidates in the recent by-polls to Mokama and Gopalganj seats, was replying to queries from journalists about Kurhani in Muzaffarpur district, where filing of nominations will begin on Thursday.
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"Our party will support the NDA", said the son of late Ram Vilas Paswan, who now heads a splinter group of the party founded by his father. The party had split in 2021 following the rebellion of his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras.
Both NDA as well as the ruling Mahagathbandhan are yet to announce their candidates for the seat, where filing of nomination papers will end on November 17.
Sahani has been disqualified upon conviction by a Delhi court for submitting fake bills to avail Leave Travel Concession while he was a Rajya Sabha member.
Paswan, who is a bete noire of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, also said that the recent by-poll had proved that the JD(U) stalwart "was no more a factor" in Bihar politics.
"Mokama is the pocket borough of (disqualified RJD MLA) Anant Kumar Singh. He polled 78,000 votes in 2020 when JD(U) was not with his party. This time his wife contested and got just about a thousand votes more. So what did Nitish Kumar bring on the table?", the Jamui MP asked.
"In Gopalganj, which falls under the eponymous parliamentary constituency, he could not help the RJD win though the Lok Sabha seat is held by his party," claimed Paswan, who had contested the 2019 general election in alliance with BJP and Kumar but revolted against the latter ahead of the assembly polls.
Speculations are rife that Paswan is being wooed back into the NDA by BJP which is now shorn of all major allies, though Paras, who is a union minister, remains the proverbial thorn in the flesh for his nephew.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)