post bollywood tryst
statesman news service
Patna, 1 July
This is the story of another "son rise" in Bihar. After RJD chief Lalu Prasad&’s cricketer son Tejaswi Yadav, Chirag Paswan, the actor son of Lok Janshakti Party president Ramvilas Paswan, has now decided to join active politics.
Chirag was apparently forced to jump into politics in view of certain compulsions on the family front as his father, who is a heart patient, has not been keeping well for the past several months.
The LJP, which has a strong base in the Dalit community, is still considered a significant political force in Bihar.
For the past two months, Chirag, who has also tried his hands in a Bollywood movie Miley Naa Miley Hum, which went unnoticed by cinema fans, had been constantly on the move, holding one meeting after another, which dropped enough hints of the actor’s joining active politics some day.
“It was my responsibility to join active politics and has done this finally. Now, I’m even ready to fight elections,” Chirag told a Press conference.
He campaigned for Mr Prabhunath Singh, who was the RJD-LJP joint candidate from the Maharajganj Lok Sabha seat which went to the bypoll last month.
 In the absence of his father, who is having cardiac problems, Chirag devoted much time to campaigning, along with RJD chief Mr Prasad.
The RJD candidate won convincingly over the JD-U nominee and Bihar Education Minister Prashant Kumar Shahi, who was defeated by over 1.50 lakh votes.
The RJD candidate went to the LJP office in Delhi and especially thanked Chirag for his support.
“He is a dynamic and competent leader whose leadership will boost the party in the days to come,” said state general secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, adding his move (to join politics) would inspire the youths.
He added that Chirag&’s joining active politics has come as a fresh gust of wind for the youths  and was more suited to the present situation when major parties like the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the RJD have opted for youth leadership in the form of Mr Rahul Gandhi, Mr Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav. “It&’s more a necessity than compulsion,” he added.
Chirag also addressed a series of rallies in Hajipur and Bhabhua to galvanise the party workers who felt dejected after successive defeats in polls until the RJD-LJP combine candidate tasted the first major victory after a long time.
Then, he led an LJP probe team to inquire into the police firing at Bagaha in which six residents were killed.