PATNA: In what appears to be a carefully planned move, five of the six MPs of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) on Monday united against LJP founder late Ram Vilas Paswan’s son Chirag Paswan and elected Pashupati Kumar Paras as their leader.
Paras is the youngest brother of the late leader.
This is part of a series of moves in the LJP which have jolted party scion Chirag Paswan.
Chirag’s unceremonious removal comes after months of disgruntlement among other party leaders who felt the young politician’s functioning was autocratic. According to sources, the five MPs held a secret meeting on Saturday evening to give finishing touches to their plan. Later, they submitted a letter to Lok
Sabha speaker Om Birla demanding recognition for the new LJP faction with Paras as its national president.
“I have not executed a spilt in the party. Rather, I have saved the party so that it doesn’t deviate from the path shown by late Ram Vilas Paswan,” Paras told reporters. He added that 99% LJP leaders and workers wanted to contest the last Bihar Assembly election as an NDA ally but Chirag decided to go in the opposite direction. “As a result, the LJP suffered a lot politically, virtually reducing the party base in Bihar to zero. Now, we will be with the NDA in Bihar and the Centre,” Paras said.
Expressing the new line of the party, Paras also lauded Bihar CM Nitish Kumar as ‘vikas purush’.Earlier in the day, Chirag tried to meet his uncle but was made to wait at the gate for over 15 minutes before he was let in. He spent nearly two hours there but could not meet Paras as he was not at home.