Father’s legacy his strength, Chirag Paswan the favourite in Hajipur race, RJD relies on social calculus

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Chirag Paswan, both the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and his mother Reena rose from their seats to express gratitude to the PM who said Chirag had never been conceited despite being the son of Ram Vilas Paswan and had always shown a willingness to learn as an MP.

As Chirag, a two-time MP from Jamui, attempts to win his third term, his objective will be to retake the constituency of Hajipur that had been synonymous with his father who was a nine-time MP from there (he lost from there only in 1984 and 2009). In the 2014 and 2019 elections, Chirag’s victories had come on the back of the popularity of Modi and his father. This time, he will depend on Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy even as he attempts to grow out of his shadow.

The sense on the ground is that Hajipur, which votes on May 20 in the fifth phase, will be an easy win for Chirag against the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Shiv Chandra Ram but the LJP (Ram Vilas) chief is not leaving anything to chance. “I need blessings of my father and also the PM just as I need blessings of my people,” Chirag said on the sidelines of a recent public meeting in the constituency.

The LJP (Ram Vilas) chief had to fight hard to overtake his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, the current Hajipur MP, in the NDA — the dispute between the two had split the LJP — and occupy the space that his father once held. Now, comes the harder part of cementing his position as the true inheritor of his father’s legacy by winning Hajipur. In an interview to The Indian Express in March, Chirag said he felt the “onus of carrying forward” his father’s legacy. “To top it all, I have to live up to the expectations of the people of Hajipur, which was almost synonymous with