Chirag Paswan attends NDA meeting in New Delhi after a long gap

PATNA: The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) national president Chirag Paswan on Sunday attended a meeting of the BJP-led national democratic alliance (NDA) in New Delhi on the preparations for the July 18 presidential poll.
Chirag’s presence at the meeting held in the Parliament premises, is significant as he had walked out of the NDA in Bihar during the 2020 assembly polls.Then, Chirag had not only openly opposed CM Nitish Kumar and his policies but also fielded his candidates against Nitish’s party JD(U), leading to defeat of many JD(U) candidates in the last assembly polls. JD(U) could win only 43 seats in the 2020 assembly polls.
During the 2020 assembly polls, Chirag used to claim that he was the ‘Hanuman of PM Narendra Modi’. He also claimed to remain a BJP ally at the national level but quit the NDA in Bihar as his party - the erstwhile LJP - was averse to the policies of Nitish Kumar.
In later days, Chirag could not attend the NDA meetings in Delhi due to stiff resistance by the JD(U) leadership. Once, despite a formal invitation from the BJP to attend a ruling alliance’s meeting ahead of the Parliament’s budget session, Chirag had to skip the meeting due to strong protest from the JD(U) leadership.
The two-time Jamui MP’s long-time relation with the saffron party turned sour after his uncle and Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, with tacit support of some NDA leaders, caused a split in the erstwhile LJP and staked his claim of being the leader of the LJP in the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla recognised Paras as the leader of the LJP in the Lok Sabha. Consequently, Paras was sworn-in as Union minister from the LJP quota in lieu of Chirag. Further, Chirag also criticised the Union government after his eviction from a government bungalow, which was first allotted to his father and LJP’s founding President Ram Vilas Paswan.
But Jamui MP’s relation with the BJP improved in June this year after Union Defence minister Rajnath Singh telephoned Chirag to seek his support in the presidential election. Singh reportedly told Chirag that BJP still considers him a part of the NDA. A day after telephonic talk with Singh, Chirag announced to support the NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu.
After coming out of the NDA meeting, Chirag told a news agency that he was invited to attend the meeting for the presidential election. “It does not mean that I am part of the NDA,” he said.