Chirag Paswan chooses to rejoin NDA after crucial meeting with Shah, Nadda

Chirag Paswan, the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), has chosen to rejoin the NDA, BJP chairman JP Nadda stated on Monday, hours after Paswan had a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah the day before the critical coalition meeting. “In Delhi, I met Chirag Paswanji. He has made the decision to join the NDA coalition, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nadda uploaded pictures of his meeting with Paswan and added, “I welcome him to the NDA family.

The meeting is considered to be a part of Paswan’s negotiations with the BJP to determine his party’s share of Lok Sabha seats in Bihar for 2024.

Following his meeting with Shah, Paswan tweeted, “Had a positive discussion with the country’s respected Shri Amit Shah in New Delhi on issues related to the alliance.”

Later, Shah claimed in a tweet that he and Paswan had a long conversation on politics in Bihar.
Nityanand Rai, a top BJP official from Bihar, had already met Paswan thrice.

In 2019, the unified LJP, led by Chirag’s father, the late staunch Dalit politician Ram Vilas Paswan, ran candidates in six Lok Sabha seats and received a Rajya Sabha seat as part of a seat-sharing agreement with the BJP.

Despite a split within his own party, the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party, led by his uncle, Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, is already a member of the current coalition. The young politician wants the BJP to continue with this arrangement.

Before formally forming an alliance, Chirag Paswan insisted that the BJP be clear about his share of the Lok Sabha and assembly seats in Bihar, according to sources in the LJP.

In addition, he wants the BJP to give him the Hajipur Lok Sabha seat, which had been held by his father for many years but is now held by Paras.

Another candidate for the position is his uncle, who contends that he, not Chirag, is the late leader’s political successor.

Rai spoke with the Union minister as part of the BJP’s efforts to mediate a détente between the two parties.

Even though Paswan and the other four party MPs supported Paras, it is believed that his nephew has mostly succeeded in retaining the support of the voter base that supported his father.

The BJP has been eager to win back Paswan since the pair parted ways with the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United), which is trying to strengthen its position in the politically significant state of Bihar.

Due to his opposition to Kumar, a BJP ally at the time, Paswan left the NDA during the state’s 2020 assembly elections. However, he has backed the BJP on important matters.