PATNA: The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chirag Pawan, which is a member of the ruling NDA, on Wednesday received a major setback ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections when a host of senior leaders resigned from the primary membership of the party.
Former state minister and national vice-president Renu Kushwaha, former MLA and national general secretary Satish Kumar, vice-president Sanjay Singh and organisational secretary Ravindra Singh along with dozens of their supporters sent their resignation to state president Raju Tiwary, accusing the top leadership of selling tickets for the Lok Sabha elections.
Talking to media persons, the leaders alleged that Shambhavi Choudhary (Samastipur), Rejesh Verma (Khagaria) and Veena Devi (Vaishali) have been allotted party tickets for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls after accepting crores of rupees. “These seats were virtually sold by Chirag Paswan and his close confidantes,” they told the media.
They claimed that no senior leader of the party was taken into confidence before finalising the names of the candidates from these seats. “There is strong resentment among workers of the party following nominations of these candidates for the general election,” they said, adding that leaders who played a decisive role in strengthening the organisation have been sidelined.
Chirag’s LJP has been given five seats—Hajipur, Vaishali, Khagaria, Samastipur and Jamui—as per the seat-sharing agreement reached among constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). While Chirag is contesting the election from Hajipur, his brother-in-law Arun Bharti has been fielded by the party from Jamui.
Sambhavi Choudhary, daughter of state minister and senior JD(U) leader Ashok Choudhary, is making her debut in electoral politics. Being the daughter-in-law of Acharya Kishore Kunal, who gained popularity for being an intervenor in Ayodhya Ram Temple suit, Shambhavi is likely to get support of the Bhumihars and Brahmins as well.
The majority of the Dalit votes are already with her as she belongs to the Pasi community, a scheduled caste.
On the other hand, Veena Devi is seeking re-election from Vaishali seat, which she had won in 2019 as part of the undivided LJP led by late Ram Vilas Paswan. Initially she had gone with Chirag’s uncle and bete-noire Pashupati Kumar Paras but later showed her loyalty to Chirag, which finally paid off.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the LJP had won six seats—Hajipur, Vaishali, Samastipur, Khagaria, Jamui and Nawada. Nawada seat has now gone to the BJP in the seat-sharing pact for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
