PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday skipped the first death anniversary function of veteran Dalit leader and founder of LJP Ram Vilas Paswan. Leaders from the BJP and the state’s main opposition RJD attended the event.
The relationship between the JD(U) and the LJP deteriorated ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections in 2020 when the latter headed by Paswan’s son Chirag decided to leave the NDA and contest the elections on its own. On Sunday’s event, Chirag was joined by Tejashwi Yadav and Sushil Kumar Modi. Bihar’s governor Phagu Chauhan also attended.
Tejashwi recently visited the Paswan residence, where he hugged Chirag in front of the media, setting off speculation that the state’s political alignment may soon see a change. Notably, Chirag was also joined by his estranged uncle Pashupati Paras. In June, six LJP MPs led by Paras had rebelled against Chirag. Five MPs then declared Paras as the leader of the parliamentary party. Paras now leads a breakaway faction of the LJP.
Tejashwi Yadav attacked Nitish over his no-show. “On such occasions, people do away with personal differences. But our CM seems to care little for social conventions. Neither he nor any leader of the JD(U) has come. All Nitish Kumar could come up with was a brief, one-line message when even the prime minister has filled two pages paying tributes to Paswan,” said Yadav.