In Bihar's Hajipur, it's PM’s ‘Hanuman’ vs Lalu’s ‘Ram’
BJP threw its support behind Chirag, aligning with his Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which was allocated five seats for Lok Sabha elections as part of a seat-sharing agreement. In contrast, the rival faction of the LJP led by his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who was a Union minister at the time, was not allotted any seats.
Now that Chirag has filed his nomination for Hajipur, the onus is on him to prove he enjoys the support of the Dalit community and is the “real” political heir to his father Ram Vilas Paswan, who represented this Lok Sabha seat eight times in the past.
This marks Chirag's first Lok Sabha election without the presence of his father, who passed away in October 2020, leaving him without his guidance. With his uncle Pashupati Paras and his faction of the party refraining from supporting Chirag, the 42-year-old is facing the most challenging electoral battle of his ten-year political career. Previously elected from Jamui, a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes, in both 2014 and 2019, Chirag has now shifted his focus to Hajipur for the upcoming election on May 20. This move is an attempt to assert his claim to his father's political legacy, which remains a point of contention between him and his uncle.
Chirag’s claim over Hajipur is based on the fact that his father had represented the constituency for a record eight times. In 1977, Ram Vilas hit the headlines when he won the Hajipur seat by a margin of more than 4.2 lakh votes. He also has the rare distinction of serving as a minister in
