Bihar Congress leader asks Chirag Paswan to leave NDA

PATNA: Bihar Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra on Saturday said LJP chief Chirag Paswan should get out of the NDA alliance if he was not happy with the state of affairs in Bihar.
This comes a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held a three-hour virtual meeting with the party’s state advisory committee members and set a deadline to resolve “alliance issues”. Sources present at the meeting said the party’s Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Prasad Singh had also raised the issue of LJP not being happy in NDA alliance.He had said the party should keep an eye on the “unrest” within NDA.
“Chirag’s father Ram Vilas Paswan ji had been minister in Congress’s rule. He has shared a good relationship with us. As of now, Chirag is not happy with the state government and if he wants to come out, he can. We are open to have all like-minded people with us. It will be the expansion of our grand alliance,” Mishra told TOI over phone.
On the other hand, LJP minority cell head Ashraf Ansari said Congress agrees with Chirag’s view. “Everyone is appreciating his (Chirag) thoughts and views, for instance everyone liked his concept of ‘Bihar First, Bihari First’. In fact, Congress has been saying that Chirag will be a good chief minister,” said Ashraf.
Asked about the party switching sides before the election, he said, “Our party has authorised our national president. Only he will be commenting on such issues.”
Contrary to this, a news agency on Saturday quoted LJP state vice-president Hulas Pandey as saying that Congress was daydreaming as no one was left to help the grand old party in the assembly election.
Chirag has been critical of the Nitish Kumar-led state government and has time and again expressed dissatisfaction. For instance, Chirag had criticised the government for not handling the migrant crisis better. He had even lashed out at the Bihar government for not providing the list of beneficiaries of ration cards to the Centre.
LJP had removed its Munger district president Raghuvendra Bharti from his post after his comment to the media that “NDA alliance was intact”. But Raghuendra met Chirag in Delhi on Friday to sort out the issue.
Political experts claimed that LJP was trying to create pressure on the NDA as it wanted two seats in the Bihar Vidhan Parishad from the governor’s quota.
Congress to move court over guv quota: Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra on Saturday said he will move the court if a violation of the constitutional norms takes place in nominating 12 members to the Vidhan Parishad.
Mishra said as per Article 171 (5) of Constitution, the 12 members to be nominated by the governor should have expertise in the field of science, art, literature, sports, social service and cooperation.
“But this norm is not followed. Earlier also the state government violated norms and had sent its party leaders to the Upper House. The matter was taken to the High Court, after which the government had assured they will not be repeating similar mistakes. But through media reports we are getting information that again the government is planning to send its party leaders to Vidhan Parishad through governor’s quota. If it violates the norm, then I will move court,” said Mishra.