Union minister Chirag Paswan on Sunday asserted that it is for the people of Bihar to decide from which seat he should contest the assembly elections due later this year.

Paswan, the minister of food processing industries, made the statement at a rally in Ara in Bhojpur district where his party, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), sounded the poll bugle.

"I will contest the assembly polls in Bihar. I will contest not just in Bihar but for Bihar and its people. I am the son of Ram Vilas Paswan. I will realise the dreams of my father and work for 'Bihar first, Bihari first' to change Bihar," he said.

"It is for the people of Bihar to decide from which seat in the state I should contest the assembly elections. Whenever I take a political decision, I take it for the sake of the state and its people," he added.

Paswan said his party will make every effort to ensure that the NDA wins the assembly polls with a huge margin.

"My alliance is only with the people of Bihar, I will contest on all 243 seats to make the NDA stronger. I will live and die for Bihar and for the people of the state... for the pride of the state," he said.

Paswan also made it clear that his plans to contest the elections from an unreserved constituency should not be construed as his chief ministerial ambitions.

"Let me make one thing very clear. My contest will only ensure a better strike rate for my party, which would help the NDA," he said.

Without taking the name of his uncle Pashupati Nath Paras, Paswan said, "I was recovering from the grief of my father's demise. I am proud that I fought like the cub of a lion. My own family members had begun to bare their fangs soon after the death of my father. It was quite clear that they did it all because of their ambitions.

"People tried to break me. I am the son of Ram Vilas Paswan and cannot be broken. It was only the people of Bihar who stood by me during challenging times." Following a fallout between Paswan and his uncle after the death of his father, the Lok Janshakti Party split and the EC allotted new names and symbols to the two factions.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's comment that Bihar has become the "crime capital" of the country, Paswan said the Congress leader must speak about the 'jungal-raaj' (lawlessness) the state witnessed before 2005.

"It was Congress and RJD who were responsible for the 'jungal-raaj' in the state. The double-engine government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has changed Bihar. Now, the image of the state has entirely changed. The state is witnessing overall development under the NDA rule," he said.

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