New Delhi: Five of the six Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MPs in the Lok Sabha have joined hands against their leader Chirag Paswan. They have elected his paternal uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras in his place. This new development against Chirag Paswan is causing a big churn in Bihar politics.
Paras lauded Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a good leader and ‘vikas purush’ (development-oriented man), Monday. He highlighted the deep fault lines within the party as his nephew Chirag has been a strong critic of the JD(U) president. “I have not broken the party (LJP) but saved it,” Paras, MP from Hajipur, told reporters. He asserted that 99 per cent of LJP workers were unhappy with the turn of events in Bihar. This is because Chirag led his party against the JD(U) and fared poorly in the 2020 Assembly polls.
Paras said his group will continue to be part of the BJP-led NDA, and said Chirag can remain part of the organisation.
The group of five MPs has conveyed their decision of electing Paras as the LJP leader in Lok Sabha to Speaker Om Birla.
There has however, been no comment from Chirag on the issue. Soon after Paras spoke to reporters, Chirag drove to his uncle’s residence in the national capital to meet him. Chirag’s cousin and MP Prince Raj also stays at the same address.
Chirag spent over 90 minutes at the residence of Paras and Prince Raj. He then left without saying a word to the waiting media persons. It is believed that neither of the two rebel MPs met him. A household help said the two were not at home when the LJP chief arrived.
The rebel group includes MPs Raj, Chandan Singh, Veena Devi and Mehboob Ali Kaiser. They have long been unhappy with Chirag’s style of functioning, sources said. The LJP president has now been left virtually isolated at the top after taking on the mantle following his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s death in 2020.
Sources close to Chirag have blamed the JD(U) for the split. They said that the JD(U) had been working to isolate the LJP president. This development came after Chirag’s decision to go all out against Kumar in the 2020 Assembly polls.