"Nothing Called Friendly Fight": Chirag Paswan's Dig After RJD's Bihar List

Taking a swipe at the Opposition's Grand Alliance in Bihar, Union Minister Chirag Paswan today said there are no "friendly fights" in politics and said the INDIA bloc has given a walkover to NDA on many seats.

Paswan, who leads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), is part of the NDA and is contesting 29 seats in the upcoming Bihar election.

After the RJD announced its candidates for 143 seats, some of them overlapping with the Congress, Paswan said he is a keen observer of politics. "But I have never seen an election where such a big alliance is on the verge of a split. There can be a dispute over the choice of seats, but they have not been able to even decide the number of seats," he said.

#WATCH | Patna, Bihar | On RJD fielding candidates in 143 seats in the Bihar Assembly elections, Union Minister Chirag Paswan says, "I have never seen such a thing in my life that such a big alliance is on the verge of ruins... If the people of mahagathbandhan are in this… https://t.co/zud2s1Cfui pic.twitter.com/Yyt70JTNPX

— ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2025

Elections to the 243-member Bihar Assembly will be held on November 6 and 11, and today is the last day for filing nominations for the second phase of polling. Mahagathbathdhan allies failed to reach an agreement on several seats, leading to a situation in which they will compete against each other in these constituencies. Such fights can lead to division of Opposition votes and benefit the NDA's candidates.

"There is nothing called 'friendly fight'. Either you are friends or you are fighting against each other. If you are contesting polls against each and targeting each other's leaders, how can you expect this won't have an impact in other seats?" Paswan asked.

"Mahagathbandhan will pay a big price for this. NDA was progressing strongly, and now Mahagathbandhan has given us a walkover on many seats that appeared to be challenging," he said.

The Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD today released a list of 143 candidates for the upcoming polls. In signs that all is not well within the Mahagathbandhan, the RJD fielded candidates in four seats where the Congress has already announced candidates.

With the RJD announcing 143 candidates, the Mahagathbandhan's seat-sharing formula stands at RJD (143), Congress (55), CPIML (20), CPI (6), CPM (4) and VIP (15). Interestingly, the Congress has already announced candidates for 60 seats.