By PTI
NEW DELHI: LJP leader Chirag Paswan on Tuesday said he has invited top national leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, for an event in Patna on September 12 to mark the first death anniversary of his father and Dalit stalwart Ram Vilas Paswan.
The event assumes heightened political significance at a time when Chirag Paswan is embroiled in a bitter dispute with his uncle and Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras to claim the legacy of his father.
He also went to Paras’ residence here to give him an invite.
Speaking to PTI, the young leader also rejected speculation that his party wanted his father’s Delhi residence of over three decades to remain under its control by installing a bust of Ram Vilas Paswan and asserted that as a lawmaker he will not do anything that is considered encroachment or any violation of law.
“As of now the government has permitted me to stay here. The bust is a symbol of the party’s love for the late leader and will be shifted whenever an alternative arrangement is provided. The bust should never be seen as an attempt on my part to encroach the property,” he said.
Noting that government rules do not allow converting any residence into a museum or a memorial, he said he would never support anything that goes against this and asserted that the party plans to install his father’s bust or statue in every district across the country.
The Urban Development Ministry had issued an initial notice for vacating the residence soon after the death of Ram Vilas Paswan, but the family has been allowed to stay there for now after Chirag Paswan took up the matter with senior government functionaries, sources said.
On the September 12 event, Chirag Paswan said he has spoken to Modi and Shah to invite them and has also met Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in this regard.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, with whom the LJP leader has had sharp differences, and RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav have also been invited.
Paras is also likely to organise an anniversary event on October 8, the day Ram Vilas Paswan had died last year.
He is also expected to invite top national leaders.
Chirag Paswan, who left for Bihar on Tuesday with his family, is going by a traditional calendar to hold the event on September 12.
Political observers will be keenly watching the attendance at the Jamui MP’s event at a time when he has been touring Bihar on an “Aashirvaad Yatra” to rally support for his LJP faction.
Five of the six party MPs have joined hands with Paras.
While the BJP has given a ministerial berth in the Modi government to Paras ignoring Chirag Paswan’s claims to the party, opposition leaders, including Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi Yadav, have reached out to him.
Though he has voiced displeasure over the BJP’s treatment of him, he has so far maintained silence about his future political moves, saying his priority now is to build his party.
