News Analysis India

Tag: Lok Janshakti Party

  • RJD leader meets Chirag Paswan, urges him to be part of anti-BJP alliance

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Shyam Rajak has met Lok Janshakti Party’s Chirag Paswan and later called for him to be part of a united opposition alliance against the BJP-led NDA in Bihar as the Dalit leader looks for his political options after being snubbed by the saffron party.

    Paswan has also spoken to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Rajak told PTI, adding that he should join forces with another young leader Tejashwi Yadav to take on the NDA.

    RJD’s Yadav is the leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly and had led a spirited fight against the ruling BJP-JD(U) alliance in the last year’s state polls but had fallen just short of victory.

    Rajak, once a close aide of JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and now in the RJD, said his visit to Paswan’s house was “personal” in nature but added that political talks take place when politicians meet.

    There is a need for building a united anti-BJP alliance over the issues of the interests of Dalit and backward castes, the RJD leader said.

    He said Chirag Paswan is the natural heir to his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy.

    With Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducting Paswan’s uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who has joined hands with four other MPs of his party against the son of the late Dalit stalwart, as Cabinet minister in his government, political options for the young LJP leader seem limited.

    RJD leaders have been speaking in support of Chirag Paswan and urging him to join hands with the opposition alliance in Bihar.

    Though he has no MLAs with him, Paswan’s decision to formally break ties with the BJP and join the rival camp will be a psychological boost to it.

    Paswan has, however, made it clear that his current priority is to strengthen his party, and he has launched “aashirvaad yatra” in the state for the purpose.

    With Bihar having no major electoral battle for quite some time, there is no immediate reason for him to decide on his next course of action.

    In his remarks, the Jamui MP has often expressed his anguish at the BJP for not coming to his help during the crisis in his party but has still refrained from attacking its leadership.

    The LJP has six Lok Sabha MPs and five of them have elected Paras as their leader in the House.

  • HC dismisses Chirag Paswan’s plea challenging decision to recognise Paras as Leader of Opposition

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a plea by leader of one of the factions of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Chirag Pawan challenging the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision to recognise his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the party in the House, saying it was without merits.

    “It is well settled that the right to regulate internal disputes of the House is the prerogative of the Speaker,” the high court said. “I find absolutely no merit in the petition. The petition is dismissed,” Justice Rekha Palli said.

    The high court, which was inclined to impose cost on Chirag, did not do so after a request was made by his counsel. The petition sought setting aside speaker’s June 14 circular showing the name of Paras as leader of Jan Lokshakti Party in the Lok Sabha.

    Paras, who was administered the oath of office as Union cabinet minister on July 7, has spent the larger part of his career under the shadow of his late brother Ram Vilas Paswan.

    During the hearing, advocate Arvind Bajpai, representing Chirag, said among the six party MPs, five wrote to the Speaker to recognise Paras as leader of the party in the House and directions were passed in this regard.

    Thereafter, the party chose to remove those five MPs and also approached the Speaker to take action and declare Chirag as the leader of the party in the House, he said. However, the speaker has not corrected the alleged mistake of recognizing Paras as the leader of the party in the House, the counsel argued.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, and senior advocate Raj Shekhar for the speaker’s office vehemently opposed the petition saying Chirag was attempting to get the inter-party dispute resolved in the court.

    They said five out of six members of the party had approached the Speaker with the fact that Paras was the whip holder of the party and that the action of the Speaker cannot be faulted with. The apex court said it was inclined to agree with the submissions of the counsel for the Centre and the Speaker’s office.

    The judge said, “Now it is very clear. If you want to press, it is your wish. I am clear that this is inter-party dispute. You can exercise your remedies. You take your call, I will then pass an order by making some observations.”

    Chirag’s counsel submitted he was not here to settle the inter-party dispute and the chief whip cannot claim that he should be declared as leader of the party in the House. However, the high court made it clear that it was not going to entertain the petition and said “should the court interfere in all this”.

    Chirag had filed the plea on July 7 and also tweeted in Hindi saying that he has filed a petition in the Delhi high Court against the Lok Sabha Speaker’s initial decision recognising party’s expelled Member of Parliament Pashupati Paras Jee as the leader of the party in the House.

    The plea said the review of the decision is pending with the Speaker and despite reminders no action has been taken after which they have approached the high court. It sought direction to that a corrigendum be issued by showing the name of Chirag Paswan as leader of the party in the House.

    “Change of leader in Lok Sabha is prerogative of particular party and in the present case, Article 26 of the Constitution of the petitioner no.2 (party) provide that central parliamentary board will decide who would be leader, chief whip, etc. in the house or in assembly,” the plea said.

    “The entire action of respondent no. 1 is contrary to rules of  Lok Sabha, procedure, practice, provision of constitution of petitioner no.2, and oppose to principle of natural justice,” it added.

    Paras, who previously headed Lok Janshakti Party’s Bihar unit and is currently the national president of its breakaway faction, began his innings in 1978 as a Janata Party MLA from Alauli in his native Khagaria district, a seat formerly represented by the late Ram Vilas Paswan.

    A cornered Chirag, who has challenged his uncle’s political coup before the Election Commission, seemed to have sensed the writing on the wall when at a press conference in Patna on Tuesday he declared he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him not to induct Paras on the LJP quota.

  • Chirag Paswan meets senior BJP leader in Ahmedabad; he says on private visit in city

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan, locked in a bitter feud to retain the reins of the Bihar-based party, visited Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Monday.

    When asked by reporters outside the airport in the night whether he had come to Ahmedabad to meet a senior BJP leader as the speculation is, Chirag evaded a direct reply saying he was on a “personal” visit to the city.

    Chirag, son of late Union minister and LJP founder Ramvilas Paswan, was removed recently as the party chief by a faction of the LJP headed by his uncle and Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, prompting Chirag’s loyalists to respond by stripping five rebel parliamentarians of the LJP’s primary membership.

    The party, which has six MPs but no MLAs, plunged into a crisis after the five lawmakers, including Chirag’s cousin, rebelled against his leadership and chose Paras as the new leader of the parliamentary party.

    ALSO READ | Chirag Paswan can take forward father’s legacy only by joining fight against Golwalkar thoughts: Tejashwi Yadav

    Notably, Chirag said on Tuesday that he had expected the BJP to help sort things during the tussle between him and his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras to retain control of the outfit.

    “Their silence definitely hurts. My father Ram Vilas Paswan and I stood by BJP like a rock, but they’re not there when I expected them in such difficult times,” Chirag Paswan had told PTI.

    Chirag recently announced to undertake “Aashirvad Yatra” from Hajipur in Bihar from July 5 marking the birth anniversary of his father.

  • LJP feud: Chirag Paswan calls national executive meet in Delhi on Sunday

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan on Thursday rejected his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras’s election as the party president, saying the meeting organised in Patna was “unconstitutional” and lacked even minimum attendance of its national executive members.

    He told PTI that his party has also written to the Election Commission, urging it to stop the Paras-headed faction from using its symbol and flag in its meeting.

    ALSO READ | Lok Janshakti Party gets new national president after leadership coup with rebel MPs

    LJP’s secretary general Abdul Khaliq said a physical meeting of its national executive will be held in the national capital on Sunday to reiterate Paswan’s earlier election as its national president amid the split in the organisation after Paras and four other party MPs staged a coup against him.

    The party has over 90 sanctioned members in the national executive and barely nine of them were present in the meeting in Patna on Thursday in which Paswan’s paternal uncle Paras was elected as its president in his place, he said.

    Paswan added that only he as the party chief or Khaliq as its secretary general are authorised to hold any such meeting as per the LJP constitution.

    Earlier in the day, Paras was elected as the party’s new president at a meeting of the party’s national executive called by his supporters.

    Chirag Paswan, son of party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, is expected to leave for Bihar early next week to galvanise LJP supporters around his cause as both factions engage in a bitter fight to claim the party’s ownership.

    Paswan also urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to reconsider his decision to recognise Paras as the leader of the party in the House, saying the LJP constitution authorises its parliamentary board to decide on its leader in Parliament.

    “The faction headed by my uncle can be an independent group but cannot represent LJP,” he said.

    He said he will try to meet the Speaker over the issue and move the court if the decision is not reversed.

    The Paswan-faction also pointed out that while he was removed by the Paras-headed group on the ground of “one man one post” but now Paras has been elected the president despite holding the post of its leader in Lok Sabha and chief of Dalit Sena.

    The LJP has six MPs, including Paswan, in Lok Sabha and none in Rajya Sabha.

    Five of its MPs recently elected Paras as their president in place of Paswan.

    Lok Sabha secretariat then notified his election after all five of them met the Speaker with their representation.

  • Lok Janshakti Party gets new national president after leadership coup with rebel MPs

    Express News Service
    Amid the ongoing factional feud within the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, who recently deposed nephew Chirag Paswan as the party chief, was declared elected, unopposed, the new national president of the outfit on Thursday.

    Paras is the younger brother of LJP founder (late) Ram Vilas Paswan, who along with four other MPs revolted against the leadership of his nephew Chirag Paswan on Sunday.

    “I have been given a big responsibility to take the party to the national level. I will work for the upliftment of poor people of all sections,” he said after being elected as LJP’s national president.

    PATNA: At a meeting of party’s national working executive committee, Paras was elected unopposed by the MPs of his faction, along with other members of committee.

    ALSO READ | Woman files rape complaint against LJP MP and Chirag Paswan’s cousin Prince Raj

    Replying to the media on what led him to revolt withing the party, Paras replied saying “when the nephew becomes a dictator, what will the uncle do”.

    He also said that whatever he did in the party against Chirag Paswan’s alleged dictatorship was carried out in a ‘democrcatic way.’

    On being asked as how can he hold two posts when he opposed his nephew Chirag for holding three positions in the party, Paras said, he “will resign from the post of leader of parliament the day I will become a union minister”.

    Paras made it clear that his ambition to become a minister in the union cabinet was one of the reasons behind the revolt against Chirag Paswan besides nurturing a grudge against his removal from the post of Bihar LJP president in 2019.

    ALSO READ | Legal battle against rebel LJP leaders to go on, vows cornered Chirag Paswan

    He also denied that there was any difference in the party after his revolt against Chirag Paswan’s leadership.

    “There are no differences in the party. Had any difference been there, why should I have been elected unopposed? I have to take the party to the national level after it being brought on the verge of an end,” he added.

    The sources added that the former state minister was also scheduled to make a courtesy call on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar whom supporters of Chirag have been accusing of having engineered the split, which has left the son of LJP founding president late Ram Vilas Paswan cornered.

    A couple of days ago, a national executive meeting of the party was held in Delhi where former MP Suraj Bhan Singh was made the working president and Chirag was removed from the post, though the latter has indicated he was bracing for a legal battle over the move.

    (Inputs from PTI)

  • Unopposed, Pashupati Kumar Paras becomes new Lok Janshakti Party president

    Express News Service
    Amid the ongoing factional feud within the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, who recently deposed nephew Chirag Paswan as the party chief, was declared elected, unopposed, the new national president of the outfit on Thursday.

    Paras is the younger brother of LJP founder (late) Ram Vilas Paswan, who along with four other MPs revolted against the leadership of his nephew Chirag Paswan on Sunday.

    “I have been given a big responsibility to take the party to the national level. I will work for the upliftment of poor people of all sections,” he said after being elected as LJP’s national president.

    PATNA: At a meeting of party’s national working executive committee, Paras was elected unopposed by the MPs of his faction, along with other members of committee.

    ALSO READ | Woman files rape complaint against LJP MP and Chirag Paswan’s cousin Prince Raj

    Replying to the media on what led him to revolt withing the party, Paras replied saying “when the nephew becomes a dictator, what will the uncle do”.

    He also said that whatever he did in the party against Chirag Paswan’s alleged dictatorship was carried out in a ‘democrcatic way.’

    On being asked as how can he hold two posts when he opposed his nephew Chirag for holding three positions in the party, Paras said, he “will resign from the post of leader of parliament the day I will become a union minister”.

    Paras made it clear that his ambition to become a minister in the union cabinet was one of the reasons behind the revolt against Chirag Paswan besides nurturing a grudge against his removal from the post of Bihar LJP president in 2019.

    ALSO READ | Legal battle against rebel LJP leaders to go on, vows cornered Chirag Paswan

    He also denied that there was any difference in the party after his revolt against Chirag Paswan’s leadership.

    “There are no differences in the party. Had any difference been there, why should I have been elected unopposed? I have to take the party to the national level after it being brought on the verge of an end,” he added.

    The sources added that the former state minister was also scheduled to make a courtesy call on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar whom supporters of Chirag have been accusing of having engineered the split, which has left the son of LJP founding president late Ram Vilas Paswan cornered.

    A couple of days ago, a national executive meeting of the party was held in Delhi where former MP Suraj Bhan Singh was made the working president and Chirag was removed from the post, though the latter has indicated he was bracing for a legal battle over the move.

    (Inputs from PTI)

  • Woman files rape complaint against LJP MP and Chirag Paswan’s cousin Prince Raj

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  A woman has filed a complaint of rape against Prince Raj, Lok Sabha MP and cousin of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan, with Delhi Police at the Connaught Place Police Station. The complaint came hours after Chirag had mentioned a complaint of sexual misconduct against Prince. 

    According to police, the woman associated with the party filed a three-page-complaint on Tuesday evening. “We have recived a complaint of rape against the Prince Raj at CP police station. The woman has alleged that Raj raped her after sedating her drink,” said a senior police officer. 

    “We have not filed any FIR yet. The complaint is currently being investigated to verify the allegations against the Lok Sabha MP. A case will be filed after ascertaining all angles,” the police said.  

    On Tuesday, Chirag Paswan shared a letter dated March 29, addressed to his uncle and Lok Sabha MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, in which he had mentioned a complaint of alleged sexual assualt by a woman party worker against cousin Prince Raj. 

    “A few days ago, a woman associated with the party was blackmailing Prince by accusing him of sexually assualting her. Being the elder of the family, I consulted you on this matter but you ignored it. Later, I asked Prince to go to police, so the truth and lies can come out and whoever is guilty shall be punished,” said Chirag in the letter. 

    On the same day, Chirag was removed from the post of LJP president by a group led by his uncle. Chirag, son of LJP fouder Ramvilas Paswan, has also been removed as the leader in the Lok Sabha.

  • Five Lok Janshakti Party MPs join hands to oust Chirag Paswan as leader

    Express News Service
    The Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) suffered a major jolt after five of its six Lok Sabha MPs have reportedly united against him and demanded his replacement with a new leadership. The five MPs have demanded that Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, who is also Chirag Paswan’s, uncle be declared as the new president of the LJP. 

    Speaking to the media over the phone, Paras said that he had to take this step it order to save the party and carry on the political ideologies with which late Ram Vilas Paswan had formed the LJP. “The LJP in Bihar assembly election had suffered badly. I will try and revive the party and take it further to provide peace to the soul of its founder,” he said.

    According to the sources, the formation of a new party with a ‘renewed’ leadership was decided late on Sunday evening in New Delhi at Paras’ residence. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was informed about this decision to form a new fraction of LJP with five MPs. However, it is also being speculated that this was not a random development and has been on the cards since the death of Ram Vilas Paswan. Chirag was allegedly accused of undermining the seniors in the party, which left the leaders quite unhappy. 

    Meanwhile, local political sources said that a senior JDU leader had also met Paras recently. “A new political game is being played from behind to teach Chirag Paswan a lesson,” an LJP leader close to the party chief said here.

    A formal announcement on this leadership development is likely to be made in New Delhi on Monday after Lok Sabha Speaker’s approval. Political circles in Bihar have sparked a new buzz after Paras recently lauded CM Nitish Kumar as a good administrator.

    While the rebel group, which includes MPs Prince Raj, Chandan Singh, Veena Devi and Mehboob Ali Kaiser, has long been unhappy with Chirag Paswan’s style of functioning, sources said, the LJP president has now been left virtually isolated at the top after taking on the mantle following his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s death in 2020.

    Sources close to him have blamed the JDU for the split, saying the party had long been working to isolate the LJP president after his decision to go all out against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the 2020 assembly polls damaged the ruling party badly.

    The rebel group may back the JDU in the coming days, the sources said.

    (With PTI inputs)

  • Existential crisis for Chirag Paswan’s LJP as 175 party leaders and workers join BJP

    Express News Service
    PATNA: The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is heading towards an existential crisis, facing mass desertion. Less than two weeks after hundreds of leaders and workers, including 18 district presidents, joined the Janata Dal (United), the Chirag Paswan-led outfit suffered another major jolt on Tuesday as 175 leaders and workers in West Champaran (Bettiah) joined BJP. 

    Those who deserted the party included LJP’s district president Shyamanand Chaurasia and former vice-president Radheshyam Rai, apart from five-block presidents and 150 panchayats heads.

    Breaking away from the NDA in Bihar, LJP had pitched itself as a major challenger to the JD-U ahead of last year’s Assembly elections.

    Following a poor performance, the party has struggled to keep its flock together.  The ruling JD-U may get another boost.

    There is a buzz that Rashtriya Lok Samata Party may merge with the Nitish Kumar-led party.

  • Setback for Chirag Paswan as lone LJP MLC in Bihar crosses over to BJP

    By PTI
    PATNA: Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party on Monday received yet another setback when its lone member in the Bihar legislative council, married to a BJP minister in the state, crossed over to her husbands party.

    Nutan Singh, whose husband Neeraj Kumar Singh alias Bablu was inducted into the state cabinet earlier this month, joined the saffron party in presence of her husband and state BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal.

    “My husband has been with the BJP. I thought it would be proper if both of us work together for the progress of the state”, the MLC, whose tenure expires in July this year, told reporters on the occasion.

    The LJP, which has in the past few months gone all out against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his JD(U), much to the embarrassment of the BJP which shares power, refrained from commenting though a party functionary said on condition of anonymity “she was previously with the BJP.”

    “Her husband has been with that party all through. So the development comes as no surprise”.

    Singh was elected from the local bodies quota as a nominee of the LJP in 2015 when the LJP was headed by its late founder Ram Vilas Paswan and Kumar was out of the NDA, finalising a tie-up with arch rival Lalu Prasad and the Congress which met with electoral success, but was short- lived.

    Chirag, who pulled out of the NDA ahead of the assembly elections, has been claiming unflinching loyalty towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Nonetheless, the JD(U) which bore the brunt of his rebellion, has been insistent that the BJP distance itself sufficiently from the LJP.

    The LJP had fielded its candidates in all seats contested by the JD(U).

    In many places, Chirag Paswans party had given tickets to BJP rebels.

    Prominent among them was three-term former MLA Rameshwar Chaurasia who quit the LJP last week.

    This was followed by the JD(U)s claim that it has won over more than 200 middle and lower rank LJP leaders.

    The LJP has, however, come out with the counter claim that many of its “so-called former members” were never with the party and the JD(U) was resorting to “fraud” in a bid to brush under the carpet its diminished numerical strength.

    The JD(U)s tally in the assembly, in the elections held recently, plummeted to 43 from 71 five years ago.

    Nitish Kumar, its de facto leader, has returned as Chief Minister but the party is mortified by having ceded the upper hand to the BJP.

    The LJP has only one MLA in the 243-member Bihar House.