"But for us, Hajipur has an emotional pull. I consider the land as my mother."
Former Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan on Sunday disclosed that he wants his mother to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Hajipur, a seat his late father Ram Vilas Paswan had nurtured over several decades.
Chirag Paswan, who has been having a tiff with his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, the current Hajipur MP, was replying to questions from journalists, hours after hinting that he would himself stick to Jamui, from where he has won two consecutive terms.
"As the sitting MP, it is natural for him (Paras) to stake claim for the seat," he said when asked about the Union minister digging in his heels on the issue of Hajipur.
"But for us, Hajipur has an emotional pull. I consider the land as my mother. In the absence of my father, it is natural for me to desire that I take care of the constituency the way he did in his life time," he said.
The young leader, who like his uncle is an NDA partner, said "a final decision is yet to be taken within the alliance on seat sharing and candidature", but added that "I want my mother (Reena Paswan) to contest from there (Hajipur). After my father, she has the first claim on that seat".
The averment of Chirag Paswan is likely to trigger a fresh spat with Mr Paras, who has claimed that he contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Hajipur upon the insistence of his late brother.
Mr Paras, who split the LJP in 2021, leaving Chirag Paswan isolated in the party he headed, has been maintaining that he was content being a minister in the Nitish Kumar government and had himself suggested that "either Chirag or 'bhabhi' (sister-in-law)" contest from Hajipur.
The Hajipur MP also claimed that his late brother insisted that he contest the seat as he, and not Chirag Paswan, was the "political heir".
Chirag Paswan, who now heads Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), has been asserting that his party would contest Hajipur. Paras has responded by alleging that his nephew was trying to "desert" Jamui, from where he made his electoral debut in the 2014 general elections.
However, Chirag Paswan put a lid on such a speculation earlier in the day when he told a gathering in Jamui, "I came here as a youngster and will be here till I grow old".
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)