Pashupati Kumar Paras ousts Chirag Paswan as LJP leader in Lok Sabha: Key developments
I have not broken LJP but saved it, says Chirag Paswan's uncle Pashupati Paras
Patna/New Delhi: In a dramatic turn of events, five of the six Lok Janshakti Party MPs in Lok Sabha joined hands to replace Chirag Paswan with Pashupati Kumar Paras.
Chirag Paswan is the son of late Ram Vilas Paswan, who had founded the LJP in November 2000 after quitting the Janata Dal (United). Pashupati Kumar Paras is the younger brother of the former Union minister and one of the most famous Dalit leaders in the country. Notably, one of the rebel MPs is Prince Raj Paswan, who is the son of another younger brother of Ram Vilas Paswan.
Party sources said that LJP MPs are discontented with the way Chirag has steered the party after Ram Vilas Paswan’s demise. Chirag-led LJP had parted ways with the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar ahead of the 2020 Assembly Elections but stayed as a part of the alliance at the Centre.
- Pashupati Kumar Paras elected as LS leader: Pashupati Kumar Paras was on Monday unanimously elected as the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha. A meeting in this regard was held on 13th June.
- ‘I have not broken LJP, but saved it’: Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras addressed the media earlier today and claimed that 99 per cent of LJP workers were not happy with the turn of events in Bihar. Paras declared that his group will continue to be a part of the BJP-led NDA and added that Chirag Paswan can continue to be a part of the organisation.
- Chirag Paswan left ‘embarrassed’: If isolating him in his own party was not enough, Pashupati Kumar Paras left his nephew Chirag Paswan waiting at his door. Soon after Paras addressed the media, Paswan drove to his uncle’s residence in the national capital. However, he was not permitted to enter. When guards opened the door after around 30 minutes of waiting, Chirag could not meet his uncle as Paras had reportedly left by then. After waiting for around 25 minutes at the residence, Chirag reportedly got miffed and left Paras’ residence.
- BJP, JD(U) take a dig at Chirag: Speaking about events within the LJP, BJP spokesman Prem Ranjan Patel said: “Chirag made single-handed decisions without taking his party comrades in confidence, thereby alienating them besides dampening collective morale.” Meanwhile, JD(U) national president RCP Singh said: “It is a well-known adage that as you sow, so you reap. Chirag Paswan was heading a party which was with the NDA. Yet, he adopted a stance that damaged it in the assembly polls. This led to a sense of unease within his own party.”
- Who are the five rebel MPs?: The rebel group includes Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, Navada’s Chandan Singh, Samastipur’s Prince Raj, Vaishali’s Veena Devi and Khagaria’s Mehboob Ali Kaiser.
