Lok Sabha polls: Chirag Paswan’s party will declare candidates after Holi

NDA ally Chirag Paswan said his Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will announce its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections immediately after Holi. Paswan, whose party holds five of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, also asserted that he was “ready for any challenge” coming from his estranged uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras. “We will announce all our candidates in a few days… immediately after Holi,” Paswan said on Sunday, but dodged a direct answer to whether he would accommodate Veena Devi and Mehboob Ali Kaiser, sitting MPs from Vaishali and Khagaria. Both the seats, which were contested by his late father Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party in 2019, have been allotted to the young leader’s party this time. The MPs had backed Paras when he split the LJP in 2021, but have lately been “repenting that decision and pledging allegiance to the late party founder’s son.” Paswan was also asked about the threat from Paras, who has resigned from his Union cabinet. ber