Lalu Prasad’s political heir Tejashwi Yadav may have faltered but Chirag Paswan, son of the RJD chief’s late socialist contemporary Ram Vilas Paswan, emerged as the brightest young star on Bihar’s political horizon as the NDA swept the Assembly elections on Friday.

Contesting as part of the National Democratic Alliance alongside the BJP and the Janata Dal United, Chirag’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) delivered its strongest-ever performance, leading in the evening from 19 of the 28 seats it had contested.

The number was uncomfortably close to the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s tally of 25 leads, despite Tejashwi’s party contesting 143 seats.

Chirag’s emphatic showing has fuelled speculation in Patna that the young Union minister for food processing industries might, some day in the future, stake claim to the chief minister’s post.

For now, many see him as a strong contender for the deputy chief minister’s office.

With both the BJP and the JDU short of charismatic young leaders, Chirag
appears well placed to fill any future vacuum within the alliance.

“Chirag has definitely emerged as the star of this election,” a BJP leader in Patna said. “But if he wants to be in the reckoning for the chief minister’s post, he will have to join the BJP. That possibility cannot be ruled out.”

Chirag’s ascent marks a dramatic turnaround from 2020, when he broke away from the NDA and contested solo, declaring himself Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Hanuman”.

He won just one seat but inflicted significant damage on Nitish Kumar’s party by fielding candidates primarily against it. The JDU’s tally fell to a low of 43 seats while the BJP’s surged to 74 — a development widely interpreted as evidence of Chirag acting as the BJP’s “B team”.

Chirag’s share of 28 seats this time was widely viewed as a reward for his 2020 role, which had weakened Nitish and strengthened the BJP’s position in Bihar.

Ahead of this year’s elections, Chirag had briefly projected himself as a chief ministerial hopeful, styling himself as the voice of “Yuva Bihar” and reviving the slogan of “Bihar first, Bihari first”.

He eventually stepped back after securing a generous seat share, while hinting he might renew his claim in 2030.

The Lok Janshakti had last produced a comparable performance in the February 2005 Assembly elections when Ram Vilas, keeping an equal distance from the NDA and the UPA, led the party to 28 seats.

The fractured mandate resulted in a hung Assembly, and the Nitish-led NDA secured a clear majority in the follow-up election later that year, pushing Lok Janshakti to the margins with just 10 seats.

Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan offers sweets to his mother Reena Paswan during celebrations after NDA's victory in Bihar Assembly elections, in Patna. PTI

Unlike Tejashwi, who has remained firmly rooted in Lalu Prasad’s secular political tradition, Chirag has charted an ideological course different from his father’s.

Even during Ram Vilas’s lifetime, Chirag had nudged the Lok Janshakti out of the UPA and into the NDA ahead of the 2014 general election. It was a spectacular U-turn by the party from its position in 2002, when Ram Vilas resigned from the Union cabinet over Narendra Modi’s alleged role in the Gujarat riots.

Seen always with a broad vermilion tilak on his forehead and a thick band of
sacred threads around his wrist, Chirag today stands firmly aligned with the Modi-Amit Shah political establishment.

And, after Friday’s verdict, he stands tall as perhaps the fastest-rising high-flyer in Bihar politics.