At home in Bihar, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) (Ram Vilas) often finds itself playing second fiddle to the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
However, on the neutral ground of Nagaland, LJP president Chirag Paswan, son of party founder and late Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, made a memorable debut as he triumphed over his famous rivals by winning two seats – Pughboto and Tobu.
Speaking to The New Indian, Chirag Paswan expressed his satisfaction with the party’s performance. He also expressed his happiness at getting a good voting share along with the two assembly seats.
The MP from Jamui also made it clear that his MLAs will support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Yes, I am a supporter of PM Narendra Modi. We will definitely sit down with our party leaders to take a final call on where to go. But yes, eventually we will be supporting the NDA alliance,” Paswan said.
The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)-BJP alliance bagged 42 seats in the 60-member assembly. The main opposition party, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), has managed to win just two seats, while Independents bagged four.
The NDPP won 25 seats, while its alliance partner, the BJP, won 12 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party bagged seven seats, the National People’s Party (NPP) bagged five, the Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas), and the Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. JD (U) won one seat.
“I thank the people of Nagaland, as it was tough. We have been working hard on the organisational setup for a very long time,” he said.
“Any election is tough, especially when these parties coming from my state are trying to weaken me. But the people of Nagaland believed in me, and we managed to win two seats,” Paswan said.
“We gave the ticket based on the winnability criteria. We gave tickets to those candidates who have a strong hold in their areas,” Paswan said of his party’s decision to contest 16 seats.
He also said his party managed to gather almost 9 per cent of the vote share while coming in second in 5 to 6 seats.
“We are a recognised party in Bihar and now a recognised party in Nagaland. Two more states, and we will become a national party as well,” said Paswan.
Paswan said that the vision of his late father and his style of politics actually worked in Nagaland. “People know that I am not going to compromise anything. I think my consistency and credibility have gone in my favour,” he added.