on Nov 29, 2020)PATNA: Lalu Prasad’s RJD has offered unconditional support to former NDA ally LJP if it fields Reena Paswan, the widow of former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated due to the LJP founder’s death on October 8.The by-election for the RS seat will be held on December 14.Following BJP’s announcement on Friday declaring former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi as its candidate, RJD on Saturday urged LJP chief Chirag Paswan to field his mother as his party’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat.“RJD strongly feels that the late Ram Vilas Paswan was a big leader from Bihar. It would have been a befitting tribute to him if the NDA had named his wife Reena Paswan as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by his death. But the BJP opted for Sushil Modi. Now, if LJP fields Reena Paswan as its candidate, our party will extend its unconditional support to her candidature,” RJD spokesperson and former MLA Shakti Singh Yadav told TOI on Saturday.Yadav also made it clear that it was RJD’s official stand and not his personal view. “I am the party spokesperson and I am saying it is the party’s view, not mine,” he told TOI.Sources in RJD said if LJP fields Reena as its candidate, all MLAs of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan would extend their whole-hearted support to the LJP candidate to give a political message among the masses that the Grand Alliance is in support of a Dalit icon, whereas BJP forgot him just months after his death.
Supporting Reena’s candidature, RJD’s Chitranjan Gagan said, “If Reena Ji is made candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by the death of her husband, it would be a true tribute to Ram Vilas Paswan Ji.”However, LJP is yet to take any decision on RJD’s offer. “The LJP leadership have so far has not held any discussion on this issue. Hence, I am not in a position to make any comment on this issue,” LJP spokesperson Ashraf Ansari told TOI over the phone on Saturday. A senior RJD leader said the party has made this offer to LJP. If it fails to decide on the candidature of Reena Ji, the Mahagathbandhan would put a candidate of its own in the RS bypoll.“Most probably, our candidate will be from the Dalit community as a tribute to Ram Vilas Paswan,” the RJD leader, who did not want to be identified, said.The name of senior Paswan’s son-in-law Anil Sadhu, who is the head of RJD’s SC/ST cell, is also under consideration for the Rajya Sabha by-election, another RJD leader said.
