Chirag Paswan faces tightrope walk, Bihar elections first test 

PATNA: Post his father’s death, Chirag Paswan will have to tread very cautiously as his party is set to contest 143 seats out of the total 243 in Bihar Assembly polls set to kick off from October 28. The new LJP supremo’s  pulses are well-known: he is well educated and a good orator. The challenges are manifold — first is his party, which he has to deftly manage given the fact that it is fighting solo in the polls. He has to also keep unity in the family as his father Ram Vilas Paswan was a family guardian.

“Chirag Paswan should avoid taking decisions out of emotions. He will have to project himself as another Paswan,” said Anirudh Kumar, a senior Dalit activist. Pappu Kumar of Vaishali, a teacher and an ardent supporter of Paswan, said the biggest challenge before Chirag will be how to keep the legacy of Dalit politics of his father.

“Chirag should now directly communicate with his party leaders instead of going through party office-bearers and keep the cadre motivated,” said Ram Pravesh Kumar, a party worker. Another party supporter said that Chirag, like his father, should freely mix up with his party workers. “His father knew most of his party workers by their names,” he said, referring to the connect with grassroot workers. 

Chirag’s toughest political challenge would lie in the way he would take on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and field candidates against JD-U. “It would be wrong if he distances from BJP,” said an LJP supporter. The LJP has fielded 42 candidates for the first phase of polls, taking many turncoats of BJP and other parties. 

Making his stance clear — the LJP remains a BJP ally at the Centre, though it is opposed to the JD-U, another BJP ally forming the NDA — is like walking the razor’s edge. “If Chirag fails to clear the confusion among the  people, his party would suffer a lot,” Vidha Bhusan Paswan, a retired university professor, said.