Chirag Paswan's LJP is a key ally of the BJP in Bihar, but it wasn't always smooth sailing
Chirag Paswan, a former actor and son of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, made his electoral debut from Jamui in Bihar in 2014 and won, riding the 'Modi wave'. Five years on, the 36-year-old is facing stiff competition in the reserved seat in the form of Rashtriya Lok Samata Party's Bhudeo Chaudhary, who had won from Jamui in 2008, when the constituency came into existence. Chirag Paswan has won from the seat this time.
Over the last few months, Chirag Paswan campaigned hard in Jamui, barely stepping out of his Lok Sabha constituency. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are some of the NDA star campaigners who held rallies in the constituency to endorse Chirag Paswan. Jamui voted on April 11, in the first phase of the national election.
Chirag Paswan's LJP is a key ally of the BJP in Bihar, but it wasn't always smooth sailing. The LJP had been at odds with the BJP over seat sharing for the national elections. Chirag Paswan had last year repeatedly indicated that he was upset that the BJP and Nitish Kumar repeatedly ignored him during the seat sharing talks and did not keep him in the loop.
Chirag Paswan had also written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the state elections results were announced in December and asked him to list the benefits of demonetisation so that he can "explain" them to people. Also in December, Chirag Paswan had told NDTV that Ram temple was an agenda of the BJP and not the NDA.
Mr Paswan's LJP was placated after it was given six seats to contest as part of the NDA's seat sharing formula in 40-seat Bihar - after the exit of Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP.
In the past few years, his father has increasingly pushed him to the forefront in negotiations like these, making it clear that Chirag is being groomed to take over.
A B Tech in Computer Science, Chirag acted in the Bollywood film "Miley Naa Miley Hum" in 2011 which tanked at the box office, putting an end to his acting career.
Paswan junior also owns an NGO called the Chirag Foundation.