‘INDIA bloc heading for next big defeat after Haryana’: Chirag Paswan on Jharkhand polls

Patna, Oct 22 (PTI) Union minister Chirag Paswan on Tuesday exuded confidence that NDA will form a “strong” government in Jharkhand where the INDIA bloc seemed to be heading for its “next big defeat after Haryana”.

The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief also said he was “satisfied” with BJP’s offer of one seat in the state and dismissed speculations that the deal had made him feel slighted.

“There are many who want to drive a wedge between my PM and me. They will never succeed. Let me state that our party is not just happy but fully satisfied that the BJP, with which we have an alliance in Bihar, has given us due respect in Jharkhand, too,” Paswan told reporters.

He said he will visit Jharkhand on October 24 when his party candidate Janardan Paswan, a two-term former MLA, is scheduled to file nomination papers.

“Besides ensuring the victory of our own candidate, the party will chalk out a strategy to help our allies do well,” he said.

The BJP is contesting a lion’s share of 68 seats in Jharkhand, followed by AJSU Party (10) and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) (02). The assembly in the state is 81-strong.

Paswan said, “We are confident that the NDA will form a strong government in Jharkhand. The INDI Alliance helmed by the Congress is heading for its next big defeat after Haryana. It stands discredited for having a CM who had been in jail. So fractured is the coalition that constituents are feeling insulted fighting over sharing of seats.”

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren went to jail in February in connection with a money laundering case. Upon release, he became the CM again, elbowing out Champai Soren who ended up quitting the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and joining the BJP. The JMM is contesting in alliance with the Congress, the RJD and the Left.

Paswan also said his party was all set to get battle-ready in Bihar, where assembly polls are due next year, with a mammoth rally planned in Patna next month.

“The rally at the historic Gandhi Maidan will be organised on November 28, the date when my late father Ram Vilas Paswan had floated Lok Janshakti Party. My party will sound the poll bugle on that day and get into the poll mode. In exactly a year from now, we shall be witnessing elections, perhaps even the formation of a new government if polls are held slightly early,” he said.