BJP should give due importance to its allies, says LJP’s Chirag Paswan

After the bypoll results giving not much to cheer about to BJP, all is not well in the BJP-led NDA, it seems.

Days after Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi deserted the coalition to join the Grand Alliance, voices of dissent are coming from yet another NDA ally — the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) led by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

LJP’s parliamentary board chairman and Jamui MP Chirag Paswan has raised eyebrows by expressing how the BJP, having faced a debacle in Phulpur and Gorakhpur bypoll, should introspect the loss.

“This is a wake-up call for the NDA and it should analyse why the coalition is losing polls,” he said.

According to Chirag, though the results are still not a cause for worry in Bihar where parties retained their seats, key allies like Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh and (HAM) quitting NDA is worrisome.

Chirag, in fact, was candid in expressing that the BJP should talk with allies and not ignore the worries being aired by them. “The allies of NDA should be taken seriously and taken into confidence to thrash out future strategy for forthcoming polls,” he said. In the same vein, he said the LJP was part of the alliance and does not intend to leave it.

“Our only demand is that allies should be given due importance in the NDA by the BJP,” he said.

Many feel the words of the actor-turned-politician hold significance as they are seen as a subtle threat to the BJP to accommodate its allies in decision making and not act as a ‘big brother’.

There is also a perception that the LJP top brass, including party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, is unhappy with the inclusion of JD(U) in the NDA and started arm flexing in the run-up to the 2019 parliamentary polls so that the party gets a better deal in the seatsharing arrangement. Political experts feel Chirag’s statement indicates that the party is trying to put pressure on the BJP to ensure it does not end up getting a raw deal in seat adjustments.

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