Uncle and nephew fight for control of LJP, rebels name Surajbhan Singh as working president

PATNA:  A day after a coup led by his uncle Pashupati Paras created a vertical split in the LJP, tug-of-war for party’s control intensified on Tuesday, with the five rebel MPs naming former parliamentarian Surajbhan Singh as the working president. Hours after the rebels met in New Delhi, Chirag Paswan expelled the five MPs, including Paras. 

How the expulsions affect the rebels is not clear as Lok Sabha speaker has already recognised Paras as LJP’s floor leader. The rebels said that a decision on the national president, likely to be Paras, would be taken soon after the party’s national working committee meets. Chirag, however, was consulting legal experts to tackle the rebellion. 

Surajbhan Singh, the new working president selected by  the rebels, is an LJP former MP from Munger; he is debarred from contesting election after his conviction in a murder case. While Surajbhan's younger brother Chandan Singh is a party MP from Madhya Pradesh's Nawada, his wife is an ex-MP from Munger and both are among the five rebels.

While Paras is likely to return to Patna on Wednesday, Chirag’s supporters, who protested against the rebellion outside party’s office in the state capital, threatened they will not allow his loyalists or him to set foot inside the party office.

Meanwhile, JDU continued deflecting allegations that the split was engineered by Nitish Kumar, with party leader Sanjay Singh, who met the LJP rebels in New Delhi on Monday, saying upon his return to Patna that the ruling party had no role in the the coup.

Meanwhile, Chirag accused Paras of anti-party activities. Taking to Twitter, Chirag shared a 6-page letter written to Hajipur MP Pashupati Paras on March 29 this year. "I tried to keep this party, floated by my father and my family, together but failed. The party is like mother and mother should not be cheated," the letter read. Chirag said Paras had started distancing himself from party activities and had steadfastly thwarted his attempts at reconciliation.