PATNA: Amid a tussle with his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, LJP leader Chirag Paswan kicked off his state-wide ‘Ashiward Yatra’ on Monday from Hajipur, vowing to reach every corner of Bihar. Chirag reached Patna with thousands of supporters who were least bothered about social distancing. He said the yatra aimed to seek the blessings of the people to continue with ‘Bihar 1st Bihari 1st’ motto.
It was the first visit of Chirag after five LJP MPs led by Paras rebelled against his leadership. “My father’s birthday falls on July 5, so, we are taking out this yatra from Hajipur because it was his political ‘karmaboomi.’ My father called Hajipur ‘maa’ as he represented it eight times in Parliament,” he said.
Lashing out at Nitish Kumar, Chirag said the leadership coup within the party was engineered by the Bihar chief minister out of political vendetta. “I will now work in line with the political ideology of my father who advocated social equality and wanted to make Bihar prosperous,” he asserted.The yatra will pass through all districts of Bihar and seek support against corruption, injustice, unemployment and poverty inflicted upon the people by Nitish in the last 15 years.
Accusing his uncle of stabbing him in the back, Chirag said: “My uncle stands with those who always attempted my father’s political assassination and humiliated him. I will never compromise with those people.” Chirag was given a rousing welcome along the 20km route from the Patna airport to Hajipur. As many as 101 horses and many vehicles were hired to welcome him along the route.