It's uncle vs nephew in Bihar for Hajipur seat

Paras was quick to refute the claims and advised his nephew to focus on the Jamui constituency. "His claim of contesting from Hajipur is baseless. I would like to advise him that he should not betray the people of his constituency and contest from his present seat," Paras said.

In a show of strength, BJP has called a NDA meeting on July 18 and the invitation has been extended to LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan. The meet comes amid hectic efforts by the opposition to unite against the Modi government.

Paswan walked out of the alliance in Bihar in the 2020 state assembly polls to campaign against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was then the BJP's biggest ally. Paras was inducted into the Union cabinet after he split the late Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), shortly after his death, leaving Chirag isolated in the organisation of which the latter was the national president. But Paswan still hold the party's loyal vote bank, signalling the BJP his importance in a state where it is pitted against the formidable coalition of the RJD, JD(U), Congress and the Left.