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

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)