Are political compulsions prompting Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan to say good bye to active politics?

Paswan’s son and parliamentarian Chirag Paswan dropped ample hints about this when he said the prominent dalit leader shouldn’t be confined to a particular political constituency and must have his presence in the Rajya Sabha.

“He (Paswan) has remained confined to a political constituency for long and must break this barrier. His constituency should be bigger now and he must reach Parliament through the Rajya Sabha to suit his political stature,” Chirag who represents Jamui seat in the Lok Sabha told newsmen on Monday evening. The observation comes amid reports that the BJP is not giving “proper treatment” to the LJP and is offering fewer seats than the seven it had got under the seat-sharing arrangement in the last Lok Sabha polls.

Paswan for long has been contesting from Hajipur LS seat in Bihar and except for a few occasions, has emerged victorious from this seat. He has lost his home LS seat only thrice in the past 41 years since he contested the first LS elections in 1977. As such, Paswan has become synonymous with Hajipur such has been his affection and engagements with this seat.

The Dalit leader became a household name in his Lok Sabha poll debut in 1977 when he won the elections with a record margin of 4.24 lakh votes, sending him straight to the Guinness Book of World Records. Between 1977 and 2017, he lost his elections only thrice — first time in 1984 when he got defeated by Congress candidate Ram Ratan Ram during the massive sympathy wave in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, then in 1991 when he lost to JD-U candidate Ram Sundar Das and finally in 2009 when he again lost to Das.

Right now, the LJP headed by Paswan is facing a virtual existential crisis with the BJP not giving it due weightage and the opposition Grand Alliance already crowded with too many parties while it itself doesn’t have the capability to go it alone. Paswan, quite like his new political friend and JDU chief Nitish Kumar, has performed well only when fighting elections in alliance.

Paswan suffered possibly the severest humiliation of his career when the BJP chief Amit Shah and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, in a curious political move unilaterally announced to contest equal number of seats in Bihar having a total of 40 LS seats. Two other NDA allies — LJP and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) — were not even invited to the Press meet when the Shah-Kumar duo made an announcement of the NDA seat-sharing deal for Bihar.

In the last LS polls, Paswan’s LJP had won six out of seven LS seats while RLSP had emerged victorious in all three seats they were given under the seat-sharing arrangement. But now with BJP and the JDU deciding to contest equal number of seats, chances are that remaining NDA allies could be spared a maximum of six seats— four for the LJP and two for the RLSP.

The problem with the two parties is that the opposition Grand Alliance to is crowded this time with the RJD, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Sharad Yadav’s party being part it while all the Left parties, SP and the BSP are willing to join the GA. If that happens, the LJP and RLSP could get their egos barely satisfied.