In a setback to Chirag Paswan, his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras was unanimously elected as the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha. Later on Monday, 14 June, Paras was recognised as the LJP floor leader in the Lower House, an official notification stated.
NDTV, quoting sources, had stated that Paras, a first-time MP from Hajipur, was promised a spot in the Union Cabinet by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and that reportedly sealed the deal.
"I am with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Nitish Kumar is a good leader and Vikas Purush (development man)," Paras added.
PASWAN FACES OPPOSITION: WHAT HAD HAPPENED?
Earlier, five of the six LJP MPs revolted against Paswan and wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker to identify them as a separate group.
The rebel MPs posed their confidence in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, against whom Paswan led a massive campaign during the Assembly elections.
“There are six MPs in our party. It was the desire of five MPs to save our party. So, I've not broken the party, I've saved it. Chirag Paswan is my nephew as well as party's national president. I have no objection against him,” LJP MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, Paswan’s uncle, had told ANI.
Further, he had further said that the MPs would meet the Speaker when he allots the time.
According to NDTV, Paswan, who went to meet Paras on Monday, returned without seeing his uncle.
BACKGROUND
According to sources, the uncle and nephew were barely on talking terms and communicated through letters.
“After the death of Ram Vilas Paswan on 8 October 2020, some of the unilateral decisions taken by the party leadership pushed the LJP to the brink of extinction,” Paras had told Hindustan Times.
Paswan took over the party’s mantle following his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s death in 2020. He was the face of the party in the Bihar elections 2020.
LJP had won six seats in 2019 Lok Sabha elections – Vaishali, Samastipur, Khagaria, Nawada, and Jamui. All MPs, except Paswan, who was elected from Jamui, have pledged support to Paras.
The party’s only MLA Raj Kumar Singh, who had won the Matihani seat of Begusarai in the 2020 Assembly polls, joined Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) earlier this year.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI, NDTV and Hindustan Times.)
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