Chirag Paswan’s LJP sets eyes on Jharkhand polls, party’s national executive meet scheduled in Ranchi

Ranchi, Aug 24 (IANS) Eyeing Jharkhand Assembly polls, Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has convened a national executive meeting in Ranchi on Sunday. This meeting, which will be held at a prominent hotel in Ranchi, is expected to make significant decisions regarding the upcoming Assembly elections in Jharkhand, which are likely to be held in November-December.The strategy for the Haryana elections and next year’s Bihar assembly elections will also be discussed.This meeting is considered important because the party will elect its National President.It is expected that Chirag Paswan will be unanimously re-elected to the position.Ahead of this meeting, the LJP Jharkhand unit has identified 28 Assembly seats in the state and has proposed to the central leadership that the party contest these seats.This proposal will be discussed during the meeting, and decisions will be made on how many and which seats the party will contest under the BJP-led NDA. The party’s State President, Virendra Pradhan, stated they are ready to contest the Jharkhand Assembly elections with full strength.He said that they would move forward based on the decisions and directions of the national leadership.However, LJP has never won any elections in Jharkhand’s political history. The party has never had a well-organised or strong organisational structure in the state.Therefore, it remains to be seen how strongly Chirag Paswan and his party can claim seats within the NDA leadership.In the recent Lok Sabha elections, only two parties, BJP and AJSU, were part of the NDA fold in Jharkhand.Now, Nitish Kumar’s JDU and Chirag Paswan’s LJP have expressed interest in contesting seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.So far, the BJP, the largest party in the NDA, has not made any statement regarding these seat claims.–IANSpsd/uk