Three days after the BJP claimed that “all was well within the NDA” and all the constituents would contest the Bihar Assembly polls together, LJP president Chirag Paswan has reportedly shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the voters in Bihar were not happy with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The letter, which has not been made public, comes at a time when LJP will convene a meeting of its party MPs on September 16 to chalk out its future course of action. The party, founded by Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, had last week authorised its president Chirag Paswan to decide whether it wants to contest as an NDA ally or it would like to put up candidates on 143 seats out of 243 constituencies in Bihar.
Ram Vilas Paswan, who is unwell, has reiterated that he would stand by his son in whatever decision he takes.
Sources said Chirag’s letter to Narendra Modi dwelled at length on three issues: First, there is a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against Nitish as people, in general, are not happy with his work in this term (2015-20). Secondly, the results of the Assembly elections could be affected due to resentment among people as even officials in the State are lax and not willing to listen to public grievances. Thirdly, Chirag has expressed doubts about the facts and figures related to Covid-19 in Bihar.
“The LJP president has made it clear to the Prime Minister that he was writing this letter based on the feedback he received from the LJP Parliamentary Board meeting recently,” said the source in Paswan’s outfit.
It is worth mentioning that the BJP president JP Nadda last Saturday met Nitish at the latter’s Patna residence and discussed seat-sharing among the four constituents of the NDA – the JD (U), BJP, LJP and HAM.
Just when it seemed that peace has been brokered between LJP and JD (U), the latest letter shows the war within the NDA has not ended yet.