Chirag writes to PM amid buzz of a Cabinet berth for Paras

Amid the buzz of a possible expansion of the Union Cabinet and a berth for Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan on Tuesday said he has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi that nobody from his party’s breakaway group of five MPs should be inducted from the LJP quota

Amid the buzz of a possible expansion of the Union Cabinet and a berth for Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan on Tuesday said he has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi that nobody from his party’s breakaway group of five MPs should be inducted from the LJP quota.

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Paras, who is Chirag Paswan’s uncle, recently led a rebellion by five of the six LJP MPs and was later declared leader of the party in the Lok Sabha by the Speaker.

Both Paras and Paswan factions claim to be the real LJP, which has been a constituent of the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.

“If any of them gets included in the Cabinet from the party’s quota, I will certainly have objection to it and I may have to take legal recourse. If any of them is made a minister as an independent or from some other party, I have no problem. But as far as LJP is concerned, its constitution allows me to be the president and the matter is before the Election Commission as well as the Lok Sabha Speaker,” Paswan told reporters in Patna.

A day after launching his “Ashirvad Yatra” from Hajipur, Paswan said LJP continued to be with the NDA at the Centre and whatever happened in the party was akin to stabbing late Ram Vilas Paswan in his back. “I have already written to PM Narendra Modi as well as the EC in this regard. The common practice is that the party president is consulted if anyone from the party has to be included in the Cabinet,” he said.

The Jamui MP said his uncle engineered the split in LJP only to become a minister, at the behest of Nitish Kumar. “Nitish Kumar always tried to insult my father, but my uncle chose to sit in his lap at the cost of the family and party, which gave him everything,” he said.

Attacking Kumar, Paswan said the Bihar chief minister did not even pay tributes to his father on his first birth anniversary after death, though the Prime Minister, home minister and several others did. “But this is nothing new with Nitish Kumar. He did not even seek to know about his health when Ram Vilas Paswan was admitted in the hospital and that is why the actions of his uncle pains him more,” he said.

“I am not eager to become a minister. My first objective is to build the party as a viable alternative in Bihar. Even when my father was around, attempts were made to break the party, but LJP continued its march. It will continue its march and I am overwhelmed with the response of the people for my Ashirvad Yatra the very first day,” he said.