Chirag plans a roadshow as LJP power tussle continues
PASWAN ON SATURDAY MET LS SPEAKER OM BIRLA AND URGED HIM TO RECONSIDER DECISION
PATNA: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan said on Sunday he will carry out a roadshow from July 5, the birth anniversary of his father and the party’s founder Ram Vilas Paswan, in Bihar, an announcement that was seen as a show of strength amid a tussle between the 38-year-old and his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras to retain control of the outfit.
A faction of the LJP headed by Hajipur MP Paras recently removed his estranged nephew Paswan as the party chief, prompting Paswan’s loyalists to respond by stripping five rebel parliamentarians of the party’s primary membership. The party, which has six MPS but no MLAS, plunged into a crisis after five lawmakers rebelled against Paswan’s leadership and chose Paras as the new leader of the parliamentary party.
On Sunday, Paswan held a meet of the party’s national executive in New Delhi and resolved to take out the “ashirvad yatra” in Hajipur on July 5 to mark the birth anniversary of his father, who died in October last year. Ram Vilas Paswan, who founded the LJP and catapulted himself as a towering Dalit leader of the
LJP MP Chirag Paswan with party leaders during a national executive committee meet in New Delhi on Sunday.
state, nurtured Hajipur as his favourite constituency.
“The march taken out from Hajipur will continue for two months, during which party members will cover all 38 districts, and it will culminate at Patna in the form of a grand rally,” Paswan said after the meeting. Asserting that 90% of the national executive members were with him and attended the meeting, Paswan alleged that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar conspired to divide the party. “Uncle (Paras) has acted against the party’s constitution along with rest of the MPS and hence the party suspended them all,” he said on Sunday.
Paras, who rebelled against Paswan along with four other party MPS and was recognised as the LJP parliamentary party leader in the Lok Sabha, represents the Hajipur constituency in the Lower House.
The national executive, which endorsed Paswan as the bonafide heir of Ram Vilas Paswan and leader of the LJP, also demanded the Bharat Ratna for the LJP founder, saying he deserved the recognition for his work to empower the downtrodden.
A statement issued by the
LJP’S principal general secretary Abdul Khaliq said 63 members attended the national executive on Sunday. “Of the total, 24 joined the meeting through virtual mode. One national vice president, four national general secretaries, nine national secretaries and 20 state party presidents participated in the meeting and reposed faith in Chirag’s leadership,” said Khaliq.
Paswan on Saturday met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and urged him to reconsider his decision to recognise Paras as the parliamentary party leader, saying it was against the party’s constitution.
He also said that the party will consider taking the legal route if his demand was not considered by the Lok Sabha Speaker.
Paras dismissed Sunday’s LJP meeting as an assembly of a “rented crowd” and said it held no legitimacy. The Election Commission will now decide whether his group is the real LJP or whether the Paswan-led faction is right, he told reporters.