Two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party suspended nine of its top State leaders who are contesting the Bihar Assembly polls on the LJP ticket, Chirag Paswan has said his ties with the BJP were intact and he would ensure Nitish's defeat at the hustings.
The LJP president, Chirag Paswan, who will hit the campaign trail by October 21, once the formalities of ten days after his father's cremation are over, has said it was his father Ram Vilas Paswan who, before his death, told him to sever ties with Nitish and help establish a new regime.
“I expressed my opinion to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda. Amit Shah gave me a patient hearing but never asked me not to take such step (of severing ties with Nitish). He remained quiet,” said Chirag, while speaking to a select group of media.
Read | BJP likely to treat Chirag Paswan with kid gloves after Ram Vilas Paswan’s demise, feel experts
The LJP chief, who took over the reins of the party from his father in November 2019, said his sole purpose was the “ouster of Nitish” and to “establish a BJP-LJP Government in Bihar,” post-November 10 (the counting day).
To a specific query that the BJP has been clarifying that it had no relations with the LJP and Nitish was their Chief Ministerial candidate, Chirag said, “The BJP was with us. It is with us. And it will remain with us. The statements issued by the BJP are not theirs. They are forced to say so at the behest of Nitish.”
When asked that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself praised Nitish and projected him as the NDA Chief Ministerial candidate, Chirag said, “Let us not get into such debates. All I want to say is that I met J P Nadda six times and Amit Shah twice. Nobody stopped me when I expressed my opinion about not having ties with Nitish....In any case, the LJP has never fought any Assembly election with the JD (U) till date. We were together for the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. But what did we get in return. My father was humiliated by Nitish while filing his Rajya Sabha nominations. A few days ago, Nitish took a jibe at my father saying ‘can anybody win a Rajya Sabha poll with just two MLAs.’ The Bihar CM was making fun of the man who had won his first Lok Sabha poll with a record margin. As a son, I can’t tolerate my father’s humiliation nor forgive such people who made fun of Ram Vilas Paswan.”
To another specific query whether there was a tacit understanding between the LJP and the BJP, Chirag said: “Jisey jo samajhna hai, samjhe (You can form an opinion of your own). But the fact is I am with the BJP.”