Chirag drives a hard deal for five parl seats in the power games
Talks among Bihar’s allies have been contentious as the deadline for submitting nominees for the 56 Rajya Sabha seats approaches on February 15. Chirag Paswan, the son of former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, whom the BJP is wooing, has become more adamant in his demands for his mother to have a seat in the Rajya Sabha and for his party, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), to have four seats in the Lok Sabha. Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister and head of the BJP, has met with him twice. He is seeking seats in the Lok Sabha, including Hajipur, which his father had won eight times.
His uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who broke up the LJP after Paswan’s passing and removed five of the six Lok Sabha MPs to join the NDA headed by the BJP, is presently holding the seat. In 2021, Paras was appointed as a minister in the Modi cabinet. However, Chirag has become a more influential leader of the large Paswan minority in Bihar over time. For this reason, the BJP is eager to bring him within the fold of the NDA. However, sources said that the party is having trouble agreeing to Chirag’s request. The Chirag and Paras divisions of the LJP have each been promised two seats by the BJP. It is prepared to award Chirag’s mother a Rajya Sabha seat, but it has decided to give Chirag the seat in Hajipur. Chirag isn’t prepared to take the offer from the BJP. There are rumors that the Lalu Yadav-led RJD has extended an offer to him for six seats. This election season, political observers’ attention is expected to be captured by the Bihar pot-boiler.
Dinner meeting with Kamal Nath to increase pressure
Within the Congress, the campaigning for a Rajya Sabha seat has intensified to an intense degree. Out of the 56 seats up for election this month, the party anticipates winning nine of them. According to sources, Kamal Nath, a seasoned leader, is eager to join the Upper House. In an effort to win his seat, he has been camping in Delhi. However, since he is not in favour of Kamal Nath being sent to the Rajya Sabha after the party’s crushing loss in the Madhya Pradesh state assembly election, Rahul Gandhi has refrained from seeing him so far. Without seeing Kamal Nath, Rahul departed Delhi to continue his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Kamal Nath, nevertheless, hasn’t given up. On February 13, he has arranged a dinner gathering for all Congress MLAs in Bhopal. Given that he gave them party tickets, a significant portion of these MLAs owe fealty to him. Kamal Nath was granted unrestricted authority by the Congress leadership to contest the assembly election. Selecting applicants was part of this. The party may elect one member to the Rajya Sabha since it has enough MLAs in the state. It is intended to send a message that Kamal Nath is the only Congress candidate who would be permitted to win from Madhya Pradesh. Most people believe that Kamal Nath will win in the end, with both sides anxiously observing who blinks first.
