LJP parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan (left) and president Ram Vilas Paswan at the news meet in Patna on Monday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, July 29: Chirag Paswan, the actor-turned-politician son of LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan, has decided to help his party regain lost political ground.

Today was the junior Paswan’s first public appearance after he was appointed chairman of the LJP parliamentary board.

He said: “I am ready to accept any responsibility the party gives me. Focusing on the 2014 parliamentary elections is my first task to make the party strong.”

Chirag’s career in Bollywood may not have taken off after the box office failure of his only film Miley Naa Miley Hum, but now, the junior Paswan — third in the list of political heirs after RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi — is trying to revive the party, which his father formed and nurtured for years.

Chirag reached the party office from the airport today with a large number of LJP supporters. The youth wing of party had arranged for elephants, camel and horses to give their leader a rousing welcome. Chirag’s vision for his party is to focus on the participation of youths and using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to canvass his party’s agenda.

On the elevation of the junior Paswan as chairman of the LJP parliamentary board, Ram Vilas said the decision was the party’s and he had no role to play in it.

The senior Paswan said: “When the party decided to appoint Chirag as parliamentary board chairman, my son first opposed the move claiming that he was ready only to contribute as a star campaigner in elections. But later, he decided to accept the challenge.”

Chirag said he was deeply affected by the plight of people of Bihar in Mumbai during his brief Bollywood career, wants to work for the development of youths with a focus on improving higher education and creation of more jobs.

Asked who among the younger politicians was Chirag’s role model, he said: “Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is a popular leader and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh bhaiya is doing a good job.”

The LJP has decided to expand is base outside Bihar with the party holding a meeting in Rajasthan on August 18, followed by one in Chennai on August 25. The party will constitute new office bearers for the parliamentary board on August 31.

On the issue of the poverty figure debate, Ram Vilas said there should be debate on the issue in Parliament.