PATNA: Ahead of the crucial Bihar assembly election 2020, the BJP has reportedly told LJP leader Chirag Paswan in plain simple words not to use PM Narendra Modi’s photos during his party’s poll campaigns. The saffron party leadership has said this to Chirag Paswan days after his party parted ways with the BJP and decided to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar alone.
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According to BJP sources, the party may also approach the Election Commission of India (ECI), seeking its directions to the LJP not to use PM Modi’s name during poll campaigning.
The sources quoted a top BJP functionary as saying that a formal letter to this effect could be given to the EC soon. The matter was also discussed during the meeting between BJP leaders and CM Kumar on Tuesday afternoon.
The saffron leadership has hardened its stand after Chirag Paswan announced that Bihar would have a BJP-LJP government after the elections and also urged the electorate not to waste even a single vote by backing the JD (U) candidates.
Chirag wrote an open letter to the voters on Monday and “attacked the Kumar government’s ‘seven resolves’ developmental programme, JD (U)’s approach towards its allies and the overpowering influence of the bureaucracy”.
The LJP had cited “state-level ideological differences”, as the primary reason to go solo in the assembly polls. The party had stated that it wanted to implement the Bihar Vision document over which it is at odds with the JD (U).
Paswan has, however, asserted that he enjoys "very cordial" relations with the BJP and noted that he has firmly stood by the prime minister since 2014 when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had left the alliance to protest against Narendra Modi's leadership.
Paswan also asserted that he has been working on his "Bihar first, Bihari first" agenda for a long time and had informed the BJP leadership about his differences with the Kumar-led government well in advance, according to PTI.
The LJP president also profusely thanked Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for "taking care" of him at a time when his father and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan is in hospital for weeks.
There has not been a single day when PM Modi has missed calling him to take feedback about his father's health, Paswan said and also praised BJP president J P Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for their concerns.
Ram Vilas Paswan has undergone a heart operation at a private hospital in the national capital. The LJP president said his party will continue to be part of the BJP-led NDA at the Centre.
Underscoring his support to PM Modi's leadership, Paswan said his party backed him in 2014 during the Lok Sabha polls when he was the NDA's prime ministerial candidate while Kumar had quit the alliance in opposition to his candidature for the top job.
