LJP coup: MPS pick uncle over Chirag Paswan
: Five of six Lok Janshakti Party Lok Sabha members replaced party chief Chirag Paswan with his uncle and Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the parliamentary party, after a late-night rebellion roiled the regional party.
Five of six Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) lawmakers in Lok Sabha replaced party chief Chirag Paswan with his uncle and Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the parliamentary party on Monday, after a late-night rebellion by senior leaders roiled the regional party and touched off a political storm in Bihar.
In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday, the five MPS said Paras was unanimously elected at the LJP parliamentary board meeting on Sunday at 6pm in Delhi. Khagaria MP Mehboob Ali Kesar was named deputy leader and Nawada MP Chandan Singh chief whip.
“This is a decision taken out of compulsion. We were feeling suffocated,” said Paras, brother of late Union minister and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan, who died last year. Late on Monday evening, the Lok Sabha secretariat issued a notification recognising Paras as the leader of the LJP parliamentary party.
Paras underlined that the LJP will remain in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and praised Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, indicating that the party that was earlier bitterly opposed to the Janata Dal (United) might pursue a
new direction under him. “There are six MPS in our party. It was the desire of five MPS to save our party...,” he said.
Paras added that he bore no ill will towards his nephew and dismissed speculation that the party will break or merge with the JD(U). LJP leaders aware of developments said Paras was likely to be formally made the party’s national president soon.
The political change of guard was followed by dramatic scenes in Delhi as Paswan drove to meet Paras at his Rajendra Prasad Road residence but was left waiting outside for 15 minutes. Paswan , who is recuperating from Covid, drove himself with a cannula inserted in his hand. He reached the residence at 11.45am and met Paras’s wife, said a person aware of developments. “He has been taken aback by the family feud that has threatened his hold over the party,” said a person close to the Jamui MP.
The surprise rebellion is an attempt to end the LJP’S alienation within the NDA — where it is not invited to alliance meetings due to objections by the Janata Dal (United) — and comes amid speculation that Paras or his nephew, Samastipur MP Prince Raj, could be given a cabinet berth in Delhi.
Paswan assumed charge of LJP after his father died weeks before the Bihar elections last year. But relations between Paras and Paswan nosedived when LJP decided to contest against the BJP-JD(U) alliance and Paswan accused Kumar of misgovernance and corruption. During the campaign, Paras praised Kumar but was forced to retract his comment.
The LJP took in many JD(U) rebels and damaged Kumar’s party in at least 30 seats, almost costing the NDA a victory and resulting in the JD(U) posting its worst result and emerging as a junior partner to BJP. LJP also performed poorly, winning just one seat – its worst performance. Paras said some leaders inducted in the party in the run up to the Bihar polls were primarily responsible for the bad choices made.
NDA leaders in Bihar said on condition of anonymity that 200 LJP leaders joined the JD(U) after the assembly polls and before his rebellion, Paras met JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh, a close associate of Kumar. Singh, assembly deputy speaker Maheswar Hazari and member of legislative council Sanjay Singh met the five LJP MPS on Monday.