LJP revolt: Chirag Paswan says feel orphaned after betrayal by uncle Pashupati Paras

Chirag said that while he fought the Bihar assembly election with the full support of the party, some of the MPs were busy in their personal election.

A beleaguered Chirag Paswan today came out all guns blazing against the rebel leaders, including his uncle Pashupati Paras, days after he was stripped of his powers in the Lok Janshakti Party. Addressing a press conference today, Chirag Paswan said that sitting MPs cannot decide the appointment of party president or Leader of House as per the party constitution. He said the rebel leaders have no powers to remove him from the posts. “Appointment of Leader of the House is a decision of the parliamentary committee and sitting MPs have no power to do so….There have been reports that I’ve been removed as the party’s national president. As per the party’s constitution, the National President can only be removed if he/she dies or resigns from the post,” said Chirag.

He said that there have been attempts to break the party for a while now. “Some people were making attempts to break the party when my father was hospitalised. My father asked party leaders, including my uncle about the same. Some people weren’t ready for the struggle we had to go through,” alleged Chirag.

He claimed that during the Bihar elections and even before that, there had been constant attempts, especially by the Janata Dal (United), to dismantle the LJP. He said that his uncle conspired all this when he wasn’t well and added that his attempts to speak to Paras proved futile.

“I was looking up to my uncle Paras when my father and other uncle passed away…I didn’t become an orphan when my father passed away but I did when my uncle betrayed me,” said Chirag, referring to the revolt by Paras and other party MPs.

Chirag said that while he fought the Bihar assembly election with the full support of the party, some of the MPs were busy in their personal election. “I fought the election with the full support of my party. Some people were not ready to follow the path of struggle. My uncle himself did not play any role in the election campaign. Many more MPs of my party were busy in their personal elections,” said Chirag.

The LJP National Executive yesterday passed a resolution expelling the five MPs from the party and urging Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to reconsider his decision to appoint Pashupati Paras as the Leader of the Party in the lower house.

Chirag Paswan also said that he knew it well that had he contested the Bihar polls with the JDU and the BJP, the alliance may have swept the Bihar elections. He said that would have meant to bow before Nitish Kumar and he could not compromise with his principles.