LS polls: In Bihar's Hajipur, Chirag Paswan battling on two fronts

His uncle and sitting MP Pashupati Kumar Paras giving campaigning a miss, attacking his nephew for ignoring him

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Bihar’s Hajipur seat was once synonymous with Ram Vilas Paswan, who not just entered into the Parliament for eight times from here, but also made an entry into the Guinness World Records by getting 89 per cent votes in 1977.

Fast forward to 2024, his son Chirag Paswan is contesting from this seat. After Ram Vilas’s death in 2020, a fight to claim his legacy broke out between Chirag and uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras.

While Paras represents this seat, Chirag -- a two time MPs from Jamui and head of Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJP-RV) -- struck a deal with the BJP. As part of alliance, Chirag is now contesting from Hajipur while his uncle, also an ally of BJP, has been left high and dry. In protest, he has quit from the Union cabinet and is not even taking part in election campaigning.

It’s a two-front war for Chirag. As he is not just under attack from his opponent Shiv Chandra Ram of RJD, but also by his uncle Paras.

Election on this seat will be held in the fifth phase on May 20.

Meanwhile, addressing a public meeting in Hajipur on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminisced about his association with the late Paswan, his former cabinet colleague, and urged the electorate to ensure that Chirag’s victory margin beat that of his father’s record-breaking wins. 

Ram Vilas first won from Hajipur in 1977, securing 89.3 per cent of the votes polled, and again on seven more occasions.

In 1989, he cornered 84 per cent of the votes polled. 

By 2004 Lok Sabha, Ram Vilas had exited the Janata Dal to contest on the symbol of his Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

He lost the seat in 1984 to the Congress’ Ram Ratan Ram in the wake of the Congress wave. And also in 2009, when he lost to Janata Dal (United)’s Ram Sundar Das.

In that election, Paswan’s LJP and Rashtriya Janata Dal had an alliance against the JD(U)-BJP alliance.

In the subsequent elections in 2014, Ram Vilas won the seat in alliance with the BJP, later crediting son Chirag for convincing him to ally with that party.

He vacated the seat in 2019 for his younger brother, Paras while Chirag contested and won from the Jamui seat in 2014 and 2019.

Incidentally, the Raghopur Assembly seat, represented by RJD’s Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi successively since 1995, barring 2010, and now by their son Tejashwi Yadav in 2015 and 2020, falls within the Hajipur Lok Sabha seat in the Vaishali district.