PATNA: Four days after heading a coup against Chirag Paswan, LJP’s Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras claimed he had no option but to oust his nephew who was a “dictator”. “When the nephew becomes a dictator, what will the uncle do? Ask him (Chirag), why he had removed me from the post of Bihar state president illegally?” Paras told the media after being elected unopposed as the LJP national president on Thursday.
Chirag had removed Paras from the post of the state president in 2019 following which the latter is said to have a grudge against his nephew. Regarding the party’s rule of ‘One Person, One Post’, Paras said that he would quit from the post of party’s leader in Parliament the day he gets a berth in the Union Cabinet.
The new LJP president resolved to fulfil the dream of his elder brother Ram Vilas Paswan in his new role. “I have been given a big responsibility in the party. I’ll try my best to fulfil the dream of my late elder brother by working for the disadvantaged people from all sections, including those who are educationally and economically backward among the upper castes,” Paras said.
He ruled out any difference within the party after his revolt against Chirag. “Had there been differences, why should I have been elected unopposed? I have to take the party to the national level.”
Interestingly, while Paras termed his nephew a ‘dictator’, the supporters of Chirag Paswan in Patna put up posters depicting the new LJP chief as ‘Kattpa’ and Chirag as ‘Bahubali’ with a one-liner message in Hindi: ‘Gaddar Chacha se sabdhan’ ( Beware of traitor uncle).