Bihar polls: Ram Vilas Paswan kin’s revolt may hurt NDA in some areas
Party chief's son-in-law threatens to field rival contenders after being denied ticket; LJP leaders say family to settle issue
New Delhi: Bihar’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) on Monday glossed over the revolt by the party president’s son-in-law, who has threatened to field rival candidates in the state’s upcoming assembly election after he was denied a party ticket to contest.
Announcing the party’s second list of candidates, LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan’s son Chirag Paswan called the disgruntled Anil Kumar Sadhu “an elder brother and a family member”, refusing to discuss the matter in public since he was “very sensitive to family matters”.
“I am too junior to him to comment anything publicly. This is a family matter and will be resolved by the elders,” said Chirag Paswan, who is also the party’s parliamentary board chairman.
Sadhu, who wanted to contest from Kutumba in Aurangabad district, rebelled after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)—of which the LJP is a part—nominated Santosh Kumar Suman of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), a recent addition to the NDA fold. Suman’s father, Jitan Ram Manjhi, is a former chief minister and the founder of HAM.
Sadhu, who has vowed to field his own candidates against the NDA candidates in all districts, on Monday said he will continue the revolt. A senior LJP leader from Bihar played down the developments.
“This is a family matter and will be sorted out within the family. This will not have any effect on the elections or on the party’s functioning in the state. Voting will continue to take place normally. This is part of politics and such incidents happen,” he said on condition of anonymity.
With Monday’s list, the LJP has named all its candidates for the first phase of the Bihar assembly election. Wednesday is the last day to file nominations for the first phase of the election on 12 October, when 49 of the 243 constituencies will choose their representatives.
Out of Bihar’s 243 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party will contest 160 seats, LJP 40 seats, HAM 20 seats and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party 23 seats. The LJP has already announced candidates for 21 seats out of its quota of 40 seats.
A political analyst said Sadhu’s rebellion may damage NDA in some constituencies but will have no wider impact.
Vijay Kumar, a professor of political science in Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University in Bihar, said, “These feuds are not going to have an impact on the overall performance of the NDA, but individual candidates (from these constituencies) are going to suffer.”
“The problem is that in political families, everyone wants to become a politician. It is because of the glamour and the perks in the profession. It’s a glamourous profession that attracts everyone,” Kumar said.
In a separate development, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday declared its first list of 19 candidates.
The third front, including the SP, the Nationalist Congress Party and Pappu Yadav’s Janadhikar Party, had reached a consensus on seat sharing on Saturday, with the SP contesting 85 seats.
“We received a lot of applications and the best candidates were selected keeping in mind the fact that we have never formed a government in Bihar. With so many opposing alliances, our candidates must appeal to the people to vote in favour of our front,” said senior SP leader Kiranmoy Nanda. “The SP will field 16-17 candidates in the first phase of the elections,” he added.
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First Published:22 Sep 2015, 01:30 AM IST
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