Union minister and LJP chief Chirag Paswan on Monday declared his intention to return to Bihar and contest the Assembly polls, appearing to throw his hat in the ring for the state’s top post that could queer the pitch for chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Chirag, who had contested the last Assembly elections solo, projecting himself as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Hanuman”, had hurt Nitish’s JDU by playing a role in pulling down the party’s tally to nearly half of ally BJP’s numbers. The LJP this time is part of the ruling NDA, and many view Chirag’s pitch as an effort to undercut the JDU in the distribution of seats.

“The only reason I came into politics was Bihar and Biharis. My vision has always been ‘Bihar first, Bihari first’, and I always want Bihar to prosper and be on a par with other developed states,” Chirag told reporters in Raipur, stressing that he had realised that it was not possible to achieve the goal by being a Union minister in Delhi.

“I had expressed my wish before the party that I want to return to Bihar soon…. If my contesting the Assembly polls benefits my party, if my party’s strike rate gets better and the performance of my allies gets better, of which there are high chances, then I will definitely contest,” he said. He said that the BJP too had adopted the strategy of fielding MPs and ministers to contest state polls.

The Union food processing minister rubbished speculation that he was pitching himself as a potential chief minister, claiming “there was no vacancy”. But his move to contest the Assembly polls has sent alarm bells ringing in the JDU at a time concerns have been raised on Nitish’s health. Chirag is a third-term Lok Sabha MP and represents the Hajipur seat, which his late father Ram Vilas Paswan had represented for multiple terms.

“There is no vacancy for the CM’s post in Bihar. Current CM Nitish Kumar will again become the CM after the poll results,” Chirag said.

Given the LJP’s numerical strength in the alliance and also the social base it represents in the state, claiming the top post could be a tall task. The LJP has only five MPs from Bihar compared to the double-digit figures of the BJP and the JDU, the leading alliance partners of the NDA.

The apprehensions in the JDU, however, were centred around seat sharing among the NDA partners, with Nitish’s party fearing the BJP could use figures from the last Assembly elections to reward the LJP and cut down the seats allotted to it.

LJP leaders said that while going solo in 2020, their party had secured more votes than the JDU in at least 32 seats. “Our strike rate was 100 per cent when we contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as part of the NDA. We won all five seats allotted to us. Given this track record, we would seek a good share of seats to contest this time,” an LJP leader said.

“Party workers feel that Chirag should not contest from a reserved seat but from a general seat. Chirag is now the hope of the whole of Bihar, not just one community,” LJP MP Arun Bharti said in a post on X.