Paswan annihilated in his own ‘chirag’, says Jitan Ram Manjhi

Patna, Nov 11: Hindustani Aswam Morcha chief, former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi attacked Chirag Paswan for the Lok Janshakti Party's dismal show in the recently held Bihar Assembly elections.

"The branch has been cut, but he also feel. Apne chirag se bhasm ho gaye hain (he got burnt in his own light)," Manjhi said.

Chirag Paswan, who walked out of NDA alliance in Bihar ahead of elections failed to make a dent and managed to win just one seat out of the 243.

In the 2010 and 2015 elections, the LJP had won three and two seats respectively. The party would have hoped for a better performance this year.

The best performance by the LJP was in the 2005 elections when it won 29 seats and stopped the RJD from returning to power.

It is a fact that the LJP did hurt the NDA's vote share and this resulted in the JD(U) underperforming. However, Paswan's plan of playing kingmaker has now gone down the drain. It is now entirely up to the top bosses of the BJP whether it wants to retain the LJP in the NDA.

Paswan would have to do a lot of convincing to remain in the NDA at the Centre and will also prove that he can be a reliable partner.

The NDA edged past the Mahagathbandhan to win the Bihar elections, winning 122 seats, and leading in 3 others, in the 243-member Assembly.

The saffron party, which had contested 110 seats, won 72 and was leading in another two while the JD(U) which fought 115, won only 42 and was ahead in another. With four seats each won by junior allies HAM and VIP, the NDA is poised to have 125 seats in its kitty, three more than the number required for a simple majority.

The opposition Grand Alliance fell way short of the magic mark. The total number of seats won by all its five constituents stood at 110. Nonetheless, the RJD emerged as the single largest party in the assembly bagging 75 seats. Its vote share at 23.03 per cent was also the highest for any single party in the elections.

The Congress managed to win only 19 of the 70 it had contested. The Left parties, though, sprang a surprise winning 16 out of the 29 seats the CPI(ML), the CPI and the CPI(M) had contested. The performance of CPI(ML), the most radical among the mainstream Left groups, stood out as it won 12 of the 19 seats it contested.

The CPI and the CPI(M) won two seats each. Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM clinched five seats while its alliance partner in Bihar, Mayawati's BSP, bagged one. Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, which pulled out of the NDA and contested nearly 150 seats, managed to win just one. The winners also included an Independent.