Ram Vilas Paswan's death casts pall of gloom in Bihar

The death of Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan one of the tallest political leaders to emerge from Bihar has cast gloom in his native state The LJP leader 74 died at a Delhi hospital on ThursdayPaswans demise exactly 20 days before Bihar goes to polls is also expected to impact the election prospects of the LJP and the overall dynamics as well as outcome of the threephased polls in the eastern state that kicks off on October 28Popular as one of the most prominent Dalit leaders of Bihar the Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Narendra Modiled government was widely known for socialist waysHe rose to prominence during the JP Movement Jaya Prakash Nayarans Sampoorna Kranti Movement in 1974 and was jailed when the Emergency was imposed In 1977 he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time on a Janata Party ticket from the Hajipur constituency and created a record by winning by over 4 lakh votes Twelve years later in 1989 he bettered his own record by winning from the same parliamentary seat by over 5 lakh votesRam Vilas Paswan was one of the most prominent champions of social justice along with Lalu Prasad However his ideology was slightly different from the RJD leader still he was quite popular among the people of backward classes political observer Saroj Yadav told IANSI believe his demise could give some scope to the LJP in the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar Especially Chirag Paswan could get votes due to sympathy he saidThe voters of Bihar also count Chirags dedication toward his father till last moment of his life Paswan was admitted in hospital for the last 74 days and despite assembly election in Bihar around the corner he stayed there Yadav addedSending condolences to Paswans family Bihar Minister Ashok Chaudhary described him as great samajwadi socialist leader and voice of the backward classIt is a great loss for Bihar and the country he saidSanjay Jaiswal President of the BJPs Bihar unit said He was a great humanitarian leader of the country and institution on how to protect our own people I know him for last 30 years He was like my elder brotherBJPs Bihar incharge and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressing condolence over Paswans demise said He was the most positiveminded leader of the country always looking to work for the poor people We have met several times when he was a Union Minister and I was the CM of Maharashtra It is a great loss for political circle of the country as well as humanityRJD state President Jagdanand Singh said He was symbol of development of Bihar He always advocated social justice for the people of the backward class People will not forget his role in development of BiharThe election would be held in Bihar in three phases for a total of 243 seats In the first phase polling would be held for 71 seatsIn the second phase election would be held for 94 seats on 3 November 3 and the third and final phase on November 7 would witness voting for 78 seatsThe results would be announced on November 10Keep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever