Chirag dismisses speculations about mother contesting Rajya Sabha polls

Union Minister Chirag Paswan dismissed speculations about his mother, Reena Paswan, contesting the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, noting that she wants to stay away from politics.

Paswan, whose LJP (Ram Vilas) does not have any representation in the Rajya Sabha, made the statement when reporters asked him about the speculations on Friday night.

“Let me make it very clear that my mother is not a claimant for any of the five Rajya Sabha seats for which elections have been announced. She may have appeared in public in her capacity as a mother or as a wife, but she wants to stay away from active politics,” he said. “But, I must add, that all five seats will be bagged by the NDA,” he said.

The elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats, including five from Bihar, will be held on March 16. At present, two of these five seats are held by the JD(U), two by the RJD, and one by the RLM.

The ruling NDA, which now has a brute majority in the State Assembly, has made it clear that it would go for the jugular and try to grab all five seats with the help of its 202 MLAs

The RJD-helmed grand alliance, which includes Congress, CPI(ML) Liberation and CPI(M), as well as the fledgling IIP, has only 35 members in the 243-strong Assembly, six fewer than the minimum number required to get a berth in the Rajya Sabha.

It is now pinning hope on the support of AIMIM and BSP, parties with which it has never aligned, to win one of the five seats.