Before quitting NDA in Bihar, Chirag told BJP of 'wave' against Nitish

LJP chief Chirag Paswan had urged BJP's Nadda to project a leader of the saffron party as the NDA's chief ministerial face in Bihar, claiming that there is a wave against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan had urged BJP president J P Nadda to project a leader of the saffron party as the NDA's chief ministerial face in Bihar, claiming that there is a wave against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that could result in the loss of the ruling alliance in the state assembly polls.

In a letter to Nadda on September 24, which was released by the LJP on Thursday, Paswan accused Kumar of insulting his father Ram Vilas Paswan for a Rajya Sabha seat despite public assurance by top NDA leaders, including former BJP president Amit Shah, and claimed that the JD(U) president had expressed his ignorance of the LJP's founder ill-health at a time when even Prime Minister Narendra Modi frequently calls him to enquire about his health.

Chirag Paswan also claimed in his letter that even many BJP leaders are unhappy with Kumar's functioning and said that while Modi's popularity had been rising, the opposite was true about the chief minister.

JD(U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh declined to comment on the matter. A senior party leader said they may come out with a detailed rejoinder in a day.

LJP sources said the reason behind releasing the letter to the media is to explain the party's decision behind walking out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar and contesting on 143 seats in the elections to the 243-member assembly.

The party has said that it will contest on seats where the JD(U) is in the fray but not against the BJP.

Raising the issue of his Union minister father's insult by Kumar, Chirag Paswan claimed that he had refused to support his Rajya Sabha candidature last year, forcing Ram Vilas Paswan to visit the chief minister to placate him.

LJP leaders are hurt and angry at the way the chief minister insulted our party's founder Ram Vilas Paswan, he said.

In his letter, Chirag Paswan had also expressed his concern about absence of any seat-sharing arrangement with his party till then and asked Nadda to allow the LJP to chart its own course in the Bihar polls if its presence posed any trouble to the alliance, an apparent reference to the JD(U)'s decision to not engage in any talks with the LJP.

It goes without saying that any step from me will not be against the BJP's interests, he had said.