Bihar elections 2025: Will Chirag Paswan be Deputy CM if NDA wins assembly polls? Here's what the LJP (RV) chief has to say

Months ahead of the much-awaited Bihar assembly elections, Union Minister Chirag Paswan said in a recent interview that he was not aiming to hold any post like the Deputy Chief Minister. He said that if he wouldn't have quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2020, had that been his priority. 

He further said that if the NDA wins in Bihar, everyone will be given a role in the state government as per the strength of the party. 

"It does not lure me... this urge of holding a post. If that was my priority, I wouldn't have left the alliance in 2020. Now, after our win and as per the strength of the party, everyone will be given their respective role in the government. I am not aiming for a Deputy CM role. If a situation comes, it will be a party member of ours, not me," the Union Minister said in an interview with CNN-News 18. 

Furthermore, he laid to rest the speculations over Nitish Kumar not returning as the CM of Bihar. "I am telling you on behalf of the alliance that Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister (again)," he stated. Chirag Paswan also said that Nitish asked him if he was "serious" about contesting the assembly polls. 

He added that the incumbent Bihar CM wanted to know which area or assembly seat Chirag is looking to contest from. He said that he wanted to do so because it was his wish, and his party wants it to be an unreserved seat. 

"I don’t see myself too much in the Centre… my whole purpose of entering politics was for Bihar and Biharis. It is not possible to do it while living in Delhi as a third-time MP. So, it is high time I move back to my state," Paswan said. 

Going ahead, he predicted that the NDA is likely to win 225 seats in Bihar, citing the recent bypoll results.

"This time it will be an all-time high historic win for us with more than 225 seats. We have proved ourselves during recent by-polls. We won Belaganj, which the NDA had not won for over three decades."