With LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan deciding not to contest from Hajipur in Bihar, speculation is rife as to who will succeed him in the constituency: his son or brother.
Nearly 42 years after he won the Hajipur Lok Sabha seat for the first time with a margin of 4.24 lakh votes, a feat that set a Guinness record. He has in all won the seat eight of the 10 times he contested.
Hajipur constituency falls in Vaishali district, a rural dominated area close to Patna. It is a reserved constituency.
Paswan said he had completed 50 years in politics and there were also health issues.
The two names doing the rounds as possible successor to the LJP mantle in Hajipur are his son Chirag Paswan and younger brother Pasupati Kumar Paras.
Paswan's second wife Reena Paswan is not keen to join politics.
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In 2014, Paswan won from Hajipur defeating the Congress candidate. But in 2009, Paswan was defeated by the JD-U. Ealier, Paswan lost from Hajipur in 1984 when a pro-Congress wave swept the country in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination.
Paswan represented Hajipur in the Lok Sabha in 1977, 1980, 1989, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.
If sources in LJP are to believed, Paswan will be made a Rajya Sabha member after the Lok Sabha polls by the BJP.
His son Chirag Paswan, who acted in a Bollywood movie before taking to politics, won from Jamui Lok Sabha seat in 2014 for the first time. It is not clear if he will opt for Hajipur now.
Paswan's younger brother Pasupati Kumar Paras, a Bihar Minister, is seen as a potential candidate to be fielded from Hajipur as LJP candidate. But he refuses to say what his plans are for the Lok Sabha battle.
The LJP is an ally of the BJP-led NDA. In 2014, LJP won six Lok Sabha seats including Hajipur.
--IANS
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