Will support NDA, says Paras; stops short of calling truce with Chirag
Former Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras on Saturday made it clear that he will “continue to support the NDA” in the Lok Sabha polls, but fell short of calling a truce with nephew Chirag Paswan.
Mr. Paras, who has been avoiding the press since he returned to Bihar after giving up his ministerial berth, made a statement on the social media site ◣. Tagging Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda and party’s Bihar incharge Vinod Tawde, Mr. Paras wrote in Hindi, “Our Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party is a part of NDA and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is our leader”.
‘Modi’s decision’
He said Mr. Modi’s “decision is supreme for us. Our full support will be there to ensure that the NDA crosses the 400mark and wins all 40 seats in Bihar”.
Mr. Paras had quit the Union Cabinet after the NDA gave five seats to Mr. Chirag’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), including the Hajipur seat, while leaving him high and dry.
His party had come into being in 2021 after he split the Lok Janshakti Party founded by his late brother and Mr. Chirag’s father, Ram Vilas Paswan. Although Mr. Paras had then
succeeded in getting the support of all LJP MPs, except Mr. Chirag, they have now deserted him.
Speculation had been rife that Mr. Paras, who had been hopeful that the BJP would back him for a second consecutive term in Hajipur, might enter the fray as a rebel candidate and get support from the INDIA bloc. However, on Friday the RJD, the largest Opposition party in Bihar, made it clear that it would field its own candidate from the reserved seat, which late Paswan had represented several times and now his son is contesting, to drive home the point that Mr. Chirag, and not Mr. Paras, was the true heir to his father’s legacy.
The BJP has been of the view that the nephew and the uncle should “come together”, though Mr. Chirag has maintained that the ball was in the court of Mr. Paras, who was “the one to cause a split in the family and the party”.