Uncle Paras corners Chirag to take the LJP reins, praises Nitish

Less than a year after a crushing defeat in the Bihar Assembly election, Lok Jan Shakti (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan faces an overnight coup by his own uncle and Member of Parliament Pashupati Kumar Paras, as his party MPs in the Lok Sabha joined hands against him and elected Paras as their leader in Lok Sabha. In a late night development on Monday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accepted their request and recognised Paras as the leader of the LJP in the Lok Sabha.

Apart from Chirag Paswan, the LJP has five MPs in the Lok Sabha. The five rebel MPs wanted a new leader to replace Chirag Paswan. They had a meeting in the evening on Sunday and elected Paras as their leader. This group had conveyed this decision to the Lok Sabha Speaker and formally asked him to remove their leader of the parliamentary party.

Chirag is son of party founder Ram Vilas Paswan who died last year.

Ram Vilas Paswan was a member of the Modi cabinet until his death and a cabinet reshuffle is widely expected.

Chirag Paswan was hoping to fill the vacancy that arose on the death of his father, but this revolt has crushed his hope and Paras has become a top contender for a ministerial berth in the cabinet.

Paras, who is an MP from Hajipur, has been supported by Chirag’s cousin Prince Raj, MP from Samastipur, Mehboob Ali Kaiser, MP from Khagaria, Veena Devi, MP from Vaishali, and Chandan Singh, MP from Nawada.

Chirag Paswan came to know about this development late night on Sunday and rushed to meet his uncle at his official residence in Delhi on Monday morning. Some dramatic scenes followed this event, as Chirag Paswan was made to wait to enter at Paras’ residence for 20 minutes in his car. Paras was not present at his residence, and Chirag had to go back with empty hands.

Paras had long been unhappy with Chirag’s style of functioning and he found support from other MPs. This group believed that his campaign against Nitish Kumar during the Bihar Assembly election had left them at a disadvantage in the state. On Monday morning, Paras told reporters that he had no complaints against his nephew and that he was only trying to rescue the party. He also praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, calling him “vikas purush”. Paras also made it clear that his group will continue to be part of the BJP-led NDA, and added that Chirag can remain in the organisation. The Paras-led group is also likely to stake a claim in the Election Commission to represent the real LJP.