The working president of Bihar unit of the Janata Dal (United), Ashok Chaudhary on Sunday made it clear that his party would oppose the entry of the LJP (Lok Janshakti Party) into the National Democratic Alliance. He said that the LJP had betrayed Nitish Kumar, then how is it possible that his party does not oppose its re-entry.
It needs to be mentioned that the LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan was a minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet till his last breath on October 8. Technically the LJP is still a part of the NDA and its present chief Chirag Paswan, son of Ram Vilas, is openly backing the Narednra Modi government in the Centre and supporting all the BJP candidates–except five– in Bihar Assembly election.
So the LJP has not been ousted from the NDA. The Prime Minister has in his last three trips to Bihar had made no mention about the LJP. Contrastingly in his first speech in Sasaram on October 23 he paid glowing tributes to Ram Vilas Paswan.
However, in his speeches he is only mentioning Janata Dal (United), Bharatiya Janata Party, VIP and HAM as the constituents of the NDA. The NDA posters and advertisements too did not carry the symbol of the LJP. Though Ashok Chaudhary is considered very close to chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is also the national president of the Janata Dal (United), it could not be understood as to what he actually wanted to suggest.
Chaudhary was till sometimes back the president of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee and the education minister in the Grand Alliance cabinet headed by Nitish. However, he later crossed over to the Janata Dal (United) and was appointed as the Bihar unit working president of the party. He is now rated as a blue-eyed boy of the chief minister.
If he meant that his party would not let any one from the LJP to become minister in the Union cabinet then it should also be understood that there is no minister from the Janata Dal (United) in the Union cabinet though it has 16 MPs.
