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

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.

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.