We are now part of NDA, as our concerns have been addressed: Chirag Paswan

New Delhi, July 18

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan on Tuesday said that his party has formally joined the NDA alliance after “their certain genuine concerns” have been addressed by the BJP leadership.

Addressing a press conference here, Chirag asserted that the NDA would win all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in the 2024 Parliamentary elections.

The LJP (Ram Vilas) leader, though did not reveal the details of what transpired during his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda, he made it clear that “all his party’s concerns have been addressed positively by them”.

He also went on to assert that his party will contest from Hajipur, a Lok Sabha seat currently represented by his estranged uncle and Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras.

However, Paras, on his part, has already made a public assertion that he would not leave the Hajipur seat for anyone as “he happens to be the political heir of his brother Ram Vilas Paswan”.

Paswan had earlier indicated that he expected the BJP to stick to the same seat-sharing arrangement as in 2019 when the undivided LJP had contested on six Lok Sabha seats and was given a Rajya Sabha seat as well.

Chirag further announced that his party will fight the 2025 Bihar assembly elections as part of the NDA.

Explaining the background for his party’s decision to come back to the NDA fold, Chirag said that it was not possible for him to continue with the alliance in which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his party JD (U) was part.

“In 2019 elections Nitish Kumar made every possible effort to ensure the defeat of our candidates including me from Jamui seat. Even our leader and my father Ram Vilas Ji was also of the view that we should not be part of the alliance in which Nitish Kumar was part,” he said.

Therefore, “we went to the 2020 Bihar assembly polls alone and tried our best to weaken Nitish Kumar’s party in the state in which we were fairly successful”, Chirag said.

“Bihar is suffering because of the wrong policies of the 18-year rule of Nitish Kumar. We want to change the scenario by instilling Bihar first, Bihari first,” he said.