News Analysis India

Tag: Pashupati Kumar Paras

  • Evicted from late father’s Delhi house, Chirag Paswan sniffs `conspiracy’

    By PTI

    PATNA: Driven out of the ministerial bungalow in the national capital which had become synonymous with his late father, Chirag Paswan on Saturday played the victim card, sniffing out a conspiracy angle.

    Paswan alleged that a day prior to his unceremonious eviction earlier this week, he was assured by “a top Union minister” that he could stay on, and wondered whether Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had a role to play in his “humiliation”.

    Paswan also attacked his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who earned a cabinet berth after splitting the Lok Janshakti Party, for remaining “a mute spectator to the insult to the memory” of late Ram Vilas Paswan.

    “I have been rendered homeless. My father was an honest man and hence never cared to build a house in Delhi despite a political career spanning across five decades”, he said.

    “I had made up my mind to vacate 12, Janpath. I am intrigued that on the night prior to the mayhem by security forces, I was summoned by a top minister in the Union cabinet who told me I could stay on and even dialed up a colleague to say let’s not be harsh on Chirag. He is the future of Bihar”, claimed Paswan.

    “It will suffice to say right now that the minister was not among the less fancied ones. He is among the top five and is understood to have a say in decision making. I will reveal his name if the situation demands”, alleged the Jamui MP, who headed the party founded by his father until the rebellion by his uncle.

    Training his guns at Nitish Kumar whom he has repeatedly accused of having been disrespectful towards his father, Paswan wondered whether the “pressure” on the NDA government by the JD(U) leader was “so great as to necessitate our humiliating eviction”.

    “Ram Vilas Paswan was the second Ambedkar. But while carrying out the eviction drive, the men in uniform stepped on his bed with boots on, trampled on his pictures, misbehaved with our helpers”, alleged Paswan.

    “The worst part is, my uncle who owes his political standing to the late leader, remained a mute spectator and preferred to look the other way rather than risk his own position by revolting.

    Now, I am left with the people of Bihar by way of a family”, said Paswan who famously called himself the “Hanuman” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but seems to have been deemed too hot to handle.

  • LJP dispute: Chirag Paswan, Pashupati Paras factions allotted separate names, poll symbols by EC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Election Commission allocated names and poll symbols to the Chirag Paswan and the Pashupati Kumar Paras factions as an interim measure on Tuesday, days after barring them from using the name of the Lok Janshakti Party or its symbol ‘bungalow’.

    In separate letters to Paswan and Paras, the poll panel said it has allotted the name ‘Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)’ and the election symbol ‘Helicopter’ to the Chirag Paswan group.

    “Having considered your request, the commission has allotted the name ‘Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party’ for your group and has allotted the symbol ‘Sewing Machine’ as the symbol to be allotted to the candidate set up, if any, by your group in the current by-election,” the EC told Paras.

    In an interim order on October 2, the EC had barred both the factions from using the name of Lok Janshakti Party or its symbol ‘bungalow’ till the dispute between the two is settled by the poll panel.

    The interim order, signed by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and fellow Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, covers the October 30 bypolls to 30 assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats across India, including two assembly constituencies in Bihar.

    The order would “continue till the final determination of the dispute in the matter” according to provisions of the Election Symbol (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

    The EC had said both the groups were free to choose the names of their liking, including, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party Lok Janshakti Party.

    “Both the groups shall also be allotted such different symbols as they may choose from the list of free symbols notified by the Election Commission for the purposes of the current by-elections, including Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly constituencies in Bihar,” the order had said.

  • Some leaders greed for power has weakened LJP’s movement as voice of deprived: Chirag Paswan

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Taking a veiled dig on Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) national president Pashupati Kumar Paras, senior leader Chirag Paswan on Sunday said that the “greed for power” of some party leaders weakened his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s movement for uplifting the deprived in society.

    The comment comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday froze Lok Janshakti Party’s symbol amid a tussle between factions of Chirag Pawan and Pashupati Kumar Paras.

    “My father started a movement across the country to raise the voice of the deprived in society. LJP became the voice of the movement. But the movement weakened after some party leaders got trapped in the greed of power,” Paswan tweeted in Hindi.

    “This is an interim decision of the Commission. They have given thought to our arguments,” he added.

    The ECI issued a statement saying that “neither of the two groups of Paswan or Chirag will be permitted to use the symbol of LJP”.

    The Commission further directed both the groups to choose, as an interim measure, the names of their groups and the “symbols which may be allotted to the candidates set up, if any, by the respective groups,” latest by October 4.

    The LJP is a recognised party in Bihar with the symbol ‘Bungalow’.

    Both Chirag Paswan and newly-elected LJP national president Pashupati Kumar Paras, earlier in June, had written to the Election Commission over the right on the party symbol, sources had said.

    On June 13, Paras, the younger brother of LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan was recognised as the leader of LJP in Lok Sabha in place of Chirag Paswan after five of the six-party MPs gave a letter in his support.

    The Speaker accepted Paras as the floor leader of the LJP in the lower house. In a revised list of floor leaders of parties, Paras was listed as the Lok Sabha LJP leader.

    The LJP was formed by former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in 2000. Paswan, a heavyweight leader in Bihar politics, passed away in October 2020.

  • EC freezes LJP symbol till dispute between Chirag Paswan, Pashupati Paras factions settled 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Saturday barred the Chirag Paswan and the Pashupati Kumar Paras factions from using the name of Lok Janshakti Party or its symbol ‘bungalow’ till the dispute between the rival groups is settled by the poll panel.

    The commission also said that the two factions can use free symbols available to field their candidates for the bypolls to two assembly seats in Bihar in the coming days.

    “Both the groups shall be known by such names by as they may choose for their respective groups, including, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party Lok Janshakti Party (LJP),” the order read.

    Bypolls for the Kusheshwar Asthan and the Tarapur assembly seats in Bihar will be held on October 30.

    The interim order, signed by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and fellow Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, covers the October 30 bypolls to 30 assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats across India, including two assembly constituencies in Bihar.

    The order would “continue till the final determination of the dispute in the matter” according to provisions of the Election Symbol (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

    The Election Commission (EC) noted that a final settlement, as demanded by one of the factions, was not possible before October 8.

    The date of nomination for the bypolls started on October 1 and will close on October 8.

    The poll panel said it is issuing the interim order seeking to place both the rival groups on an even keel and to protect their rights and interests.

    “Neither of the two groups led by Pashupati Kumar Paras and other led by Chirag Paswan shall be permitted to use the name of the party Lok Janshakti Party. Neither of the two groups shall also be permitted to use the symbol ‘Bungalow’, reserved for Lok Janshakti Party,” the order read.

    It said both the groups are free to choose the names of their liking, including, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party Lok Janshakti Party.

    “Both the groups shall also be allotted such different symbols as they may choose from the list of free symbols notified by the Election Commission for the purposes of the current by-elections, including Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly constituencies in Bihar,” the order read.

    Both the groups have been directed to furnish, latest by 1 pm on Monday, October 4, the names of their groups by which they may be recognised by the commission, and the symbols which may be allotted to the candidates fielded, if any, by the respective groups.

    “They may indicate the names of three free symbols, in the order of their preference, anyone of which may be allotted to their candidates by the Commission,” the EC said.

    After the demise of LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan last year, his son Chirag Paswan and the late leader’s brother Paras have staked claim over the party leadership and had approached the poll panel in this regard.

  • Railway minister allotted Paswan’s bungalow; Pashupati gets Sharad Yadav’s house

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The government has allotted the 12, Janpath bungalow, which was earlier given to late Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, to Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, while the official accommodation of former MP Sharad Yadav has been allotted to Union Food Processing Industries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, officials said on Monday.

    The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry had recently asked Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan to vacate the bungalow where his father and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) patron Ram Vilas Paswan had been staying for nearly three decades till his demise in October last year.

    Former Member of Parliament Sharad Yadav has been staying at the 7, Tughlaq Road bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi.

    “The Janpath 12 bungalow has been allotted to Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Also, the 7, Tuglaq Road bungalow has been allotted to Pashupati Kumar Paras,” the official told PTI.

    The 12, Janpath bungalow was the official address of the LJP which was holding its organisational meetings and other related events there regularly.

    The bungalow is earmarked for Union ministers and the occupants of the government accommodation have been asked to vacate it.

    At present, Ram Vilas Paswan’s wife, son Chirag Paswan and other family members have been staying there.

    Last month, a notice was issued by the directorate of estates that comes under the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to Chirag Paswan and other occupants of the bungalow asking them to vacate the accommodation.

    Ram Vilas Paswan, one of the most prominent Dalit leaders of the country, had died at the age of 74.

  • 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.

  • Nitish Kumar agreed on Pashupati Kumar Paras, sacrificed JDU’s interests, to insult me: Chirag Paswan

    By PTI
    BEGUSARAI: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has triggered severe dissatisfaction in his JD(U) by settling for just one berth in the Union council of ministers, Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan alleged here on Thursday.

    Addressing a press conference in this north Bihar district as part of his state-wide ashirwad yatra, the son of late Ram Vilas Paswan, founder of the LJP, also claimed that Kumar had agreed to part with one seat for his rebellious uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras with the sole aim of belittling Chirag Paswan.

    Can there be a bigger achievement for someone like me, who is a kid in front of him? Whose age is less than the (number of years in) Nitish Kumars political career , the Jamui MP remarked wryly.

    Notably, Chirag had opened a front against Kumar ahead of the assembly elections last year when he claimed that people of the state were yearning for a change in leadership.

    He went all out against the JD(U), fielding candidates against it, though he remained loyal towards the BJP which had, paradoxically, chosen to stay by the side of Kumar.

    Nonetheless, the young leaders politics of brinkmanship hit the JD(U) hard and it finished with a dismal tally of under 45 seats, conceding the upper hand in the NDA to the BJP.

    Kumar retained the Chief Ministers seat though relations between the JD(U) and LJP continued to sour.

    The lone LJP MLA Raj Kumar Singh was upbraided for supporting JD (U)s Maheshwar Hazari when the latter got elected as the Deputy Speaker.

    Singh subsequently joined the JD(U).

    Recently, when Paras along with four other MPs, including Chirags first cousin Prince Raj, staged a political coup, the cornered LJP national president charged Kumar and the JD(U) with having fomented trouble.

    Chirag maintained many leaders in the JD(U) have felt slighted.

    Nitish Kumar had been insistent on his own quota and he gave it up all just to insult me.

    His party will come apart soon.

    Incidentally, Kumar had refused to let his party join the central cabinet in 2019 when the BJP made the offer of a token representation of just one cabinet berth to all alliance partners.

    With 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the JD(U) is at present the largest ally of the saffron party.

    On Wednesday, JD(U) national president RCP Singh became the sole leader of the party to be inducted into the national cabinet.

    Chirag also reiterated the state is heading for mid-term polls.

    The unity which we see in the so-called NDA is illusory.

    Nitish Kumar is really upset over his party having been reduced to the third position in terms of number of seats.

    His past record shows that he can change tack and let his government fall whenever it suits him.

    How else can we explain the fact that the Chief Minister spends more time at his party office than his own office? And why else has he got down to consolidating the Luv-Kush (Kurmi-Koeri) base with a vengeance, Chirag asked.

    He was also queried about the possibility of an alignment with the RJD, the main opposition party which also has the largest number of MLAs.

    The RJDs de facto leader has, significantly, said that he sympathized with Chirag who must quit the NDA and join those who believe in Ambedkars Constitution.

    At this moment, I cannot say anything about an alliance.

    These things are decided at the time of election.

    We would reach the stage once this government falls, Chirag remarked cryptically.

    Replying to a query about his getting a short shrift from Prime Minister Narendra Modi whom he has been likening to Lord Rama while calling himself Hanuman, Chirag said I did what a devotee was supposed to do.

    I am no longer left with the standing to question what Ram did or did not do for me.

    The LJP leader, who has been trying to mend fences with his late fathers family from the first marriage, said he will soon be visiting his native village in Khagaria district to seek the blessings of badi ma (his stepmother and Paswans first wife).

    I was touched by the love I got from didi (sister) and jijaji (brother in law) at a time when my uncle and brother betrayed me, said Chirag referring to his visit to the house of stepsister Asha Paswan, married to RJD leader Arun Sadhu.

  • I am the real political successor of Ram Vilas Paswan: Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Union Food Processing Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras on Thursday said he is the “real political successor” of his late brother Ram Vilas Paswan and not Chirag Paswan, who may be a claimant to his father’s assets.

    After the death of Ram Vilas Paswan last year, a factional feud started in Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) between Paras and Paswan’s son Chirag Paswan, with both sides now claiming to represent the party.

    LJP was founded by Ram Vilas Paswan.

    Paras, who was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister on Wednesday in the Narendra Modi-led government and made the Minister of Food Processing Industries, asked Chirag Paswan to do “self-introspection” about his mistakes.

    Paras, who previously headed LJP’s Bihar unit and is currently the national president of its breakaway faction, said his late brother is his role model.

    Speaking to media after taking charge as the Union minister on Thursday, Paras thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for including him in the council of ministers and said he will work with dedication.

    In the next 10 days, Paras said he will understand the working about the ministry and then outline his vision and programme.

    “I consider Ram Vilas Paswanji as my ideal. He was my elder brother,” he told reporters here.

    Paras recalled that Paswan had asked him to fight assembly election from Alauli, Khagria in 1977-78 and also Lok Sabha election from Hajipur constituency in Bihar in 2019.

    Both these seats were earlier represented by Paswan.

    “I am the real political successor of Paswanji (Ram Vilas Paswan). Chirag Paswan is definitely his son but he is not and cannot be his political successor. He (Chirag) definitely has a right on his father’s assets,” Paras said.

    Talking about his political experience, Paras said he has been elected as a MLA eight times and was also a minister in the Bihar government.

    In 2019, he became a Lok Sabha member for the first time and now has been made a Union Cabinet minister.

    Asked about Chirag Paswan’s decision to move the Delhi High Court against the decision of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to recognise Paras as the leader of LJP in the Lower House, Paras said it was not “legally correct” and asserted that in democracy, majority prevails.

    Paras, a politician with more than four decades of experience, spent a large part of his career under the shadow of Ram Vilas Paswan.

    After Paswan’s death and successfully staging a political coup against Chirag Paswan, Paras now seems poised to come into his own.

    Paras began his political innings in 1978 as a Janata Party MLA from Alauli in his native Khagaria district.

    He represented the assembly segment several times on tickets of the Janata Dal and LJP.

    He became a member of the Nitish Kumar Cabinet in Bihar in 2017 when the chief minister realigned with the NDA.

    The 2019 Lok Sabha polls saw him making his Parliamentary debut from Hajipur.

  • Sacrificing their ministerial berth for LJP’s Paras, JD-U kills two birds with one stone in Bihar

    Express News Service
    PATNA:   Did Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, sacrifice the second ministerial berth of JD-U quota to end the nascent political career of Chirag Paswan? According to political experts, the JD-U sacrificed the second ministerial berth in order to accommodate Pashupati Kumar Paras of the LJP’s splinter group in order to prevent the entry of Chirag Paswan from the LJP quota.

    Lok Janshakti Party leader Pashupati KumarParas leaves his residence for swearing-inceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhion Wednesday | PtiIn fact, political experts believe that the inclusion of Paras in the Union Cabinet was possible only when the JD-U sacrificed on its behalf.  For this,  Nitish played a big role to bring Paras to Delhi. Sources said Chirag was supposed to be the PM’s natural choice because he is still considered to be close to Modi. The JD-U had allegedly engineered a spilt in the LJP with five MPs headed by Paras.

    And with the vertical split in the LJP, the next strategy began to ‘teach a lesson’ to Chirag, who had played politics against the JD-U in the last year’s Bihar elections. With the sacrifice of a second ministerial berth, JD-U succeeded in killing two birds with one stone ousting Chirag from the NDA fold and damaging the BJP’s Paswan votes.

    “It goes without saying that JD-U might have got only one ministerial berth, but it has succeeded in playing politics against both Chirag and BJP. Now, a strong message has gone among the Paswan community that the BJP just used and threw Chirag,” said a political analysts, adding that politics will take an unprecedented turn in Bihar now with which way Chirag goes ahead. It is speculated that Chirag will join the Mahagatvandhan which, the observer said, will end up damaging the BJP in the eastern state.

  • Chirag Paswan moves Delhi HC challenging LS Speaker’s decision to recognise Pashupati Kumar Paras as LoP in House

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Leader of one of the factions of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Chirag Pawan Wednesday approached the Delhi High Court 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.

    Chirag 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.

    Advocate Arvind Bajpai said he has filed the petition on behalf of Chirag Paswan and the Lok Janshakti Party challenging the Speaker’s decision.

    He 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.

    The lawyer said the petition is currently under scrutiny.

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

    The petition has sought setting aside speaker’s June 14 circular showing the name of Paras as leader of Jan Lokshakti Party in the Lok Sabha.

    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.

    It added, “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.

    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.