Chirag takes father’s legacy in Hajipur, gives his in Jamui to brother-in-law

Pashupati Paras (left) and Chirag Paswan (right)

Patna: Having won the bitter political legacy battle against his uncle in Hajipur, LJP-R chief Chirag Paswan has passed on his own legacy in Jamui to his brother-in-law, Arun Bharti.

A two-time MP from Jamui, Chirag will contest this year form Hajipur, a seat represented by his father, Ram Vilas Paswan, nine times and, which his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras represented in 2019.

With Paswan set to carry forward his father’s legacy in Hajipur, speculations were rife as to who could contest from Jamui. On Wednesday, he himself led a roadshow in Jamui to announce the candidature of Bharti.

Bharti is an engineer by profession and a businessman. His mother Jyoti Bhati was an MLA and MLC from the Congress. Bharti will file his nomination on Thursday for Jamui, which goes to polls in the first phase on April 19; Thursday is the last day for filing nomination for the first phase.

“I assure you all that Bharti Ji will prove himself worthy of you all. I am confident that you will shower your blessings on Bharti Ji the same way you showered on me and he will turn raise the issues of the area as I always did. He will never give you reasons of any complaint,” Paswan said at a public meeting on Wednesday.

LJP-R is yet to announce candidates for three seats – Vaishali, Khagaul and Samastipur (reserved). A senior LJP-R leader, who did not wish to be named, said the names for the three remaining seats would be announced soon.

“Except one, there is very little chance of any sitting MP, who won on the LJP ticket last time, getting a chance to contest again. The seats of Samastipur and Kagaria may get new faces,” the leader, quoted above, added.

While Veena Devi is the MP from Vaishali, Prince Raj, son of Ramvilas Paswan’s brother and former MP late Ramchandra Paswan, represents Samastipur. From Khagaria, Mehboob Ali Kaiser had won last time.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has backed Paswan by giving his party five seats, including the crucial Hajipur seat, and rejected the other faction of the LJP led by his uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras.

Soon after the 2020 Assembly elections in Bihar, in which the JD-U accused the LJP of playing as the BJP’s ‘B team’, the LJP had split with Paras walking away with five of the six MPs to form a separate party -RLJP. Later, Paras also got accommodated in the union cabinet.

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