The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday accused Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan of creating confusion ahead of the upcoming Bihar assembly polls by bringing up his relationship with senior BJP leaders, and asserted that it has no ties with the party.
Over the last few days, Paswan has been hailing the BJP and its senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, while also attacking Janata Dal (United) president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. His statements have given rise to speculations that the LJP and BJP have some tacit understanding for the polls.
“We want to make it clear that we have no relations (with LJP), and we do not like this politics of spreading confusion,” BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday.
Calling the LJP “vote splitter”, the BJP leader said the party will not be able to make much impact in the three-phase elections. Javadekar said that the BJP has no “B, C or D team”.
The alliance of the BJP, JD(U), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM(S) and Vikassheel Insaan Party will win three-fourth majority in the state, Javadekar said.
The statement by the BJP leader seems to be aimed at assuaging its main ally, JD(U), in Bihar and send out a clear message to voters.
Other leaders of the party, including general secretary Bhupender Yadav and spokesperson Sambit Patra, also hit out at Paswan.
Accusing Paswan of practising the “politics of lies”, Yadav tweeted, “Chirag should not either live in illusion or nurse any illusion or spread illusion.”
At a party briefing, Patra said, “The LJP is doing politics of spreading confusion and lies and this is very unfortunate.”
Addressing mediapersons on Friday, Paswan showered praises on the PM and said that he does not need to use PM Modi’s photos for his party’s campaign in the upcoming elections as ‘his prime minister resides in his heart’. Some LJP candidates in the state have used Modi’s photographs in their campaign.
The leader has also claimed that a BJP-LJP alliance will form government in the state after the polls. “I have full faith on the Prime Minister and I have confidence that after November 10, BJP and LJP will form a government together in Bihar,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
The LJP also released videos of its founder Ram Vilas Paswan, who was a minister in the Modi government and died recently, as it stepped up its call to oust the Kumar-led dispensation in Bihar.
The LJP had walked out of the National Democratic Alliance to contest the elections alone.
Party spokesperson Ashraf Ansari, however, refuted the allegations. “We are not creating confusion. We are contesting Bihar election on our motto Bihar First, Bihari first,” Ansari said.
The Bihar polls are scheduled in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. The counting of votes will be done on November 10.
