Days after Hajipur incident, Pashupati Kumar Paras requests Z-plus security

In a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday, urging him to provide ‘Z Plus’ security, Union minister of food processing industries and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Pashupati Kumar Paras allged a threat to his life due to a political conspiracy.

Union minister of food processing industries and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Pashupati Kumar Paras has written to Union home minister Amit Shah, urging him to provide ‘Z Plus’ security, which is the highest level of security cover provided to a person by the government. Paras alleged a threat to his life due to a political conspiracy.

Pashupati Kumar Paras also wrote to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar regarding his security concerns. (ANI file photo)

Paras’ letter to Amit Shah on Thursday comes days after he faced protests on Monday during a visit to his parliamentary constituency of Hajipur for the first time after he became a Union minister. Unidentified people stopped his cavalcade, showed him black flags, raised slogans and threw auto lubricant at the cavalcade.

“In my letter, I have urged them to investigate the matter. I am a Union minister, MP from Bihar and LJP’s part president. It is the duty of the administration to provide proper security to me,” Paras was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on Thursday. He also wrote to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar regarding his security concerns.

The Union minister added that he and LJP leader Keshav Singh were being threatened over messages and phone calls, adding that some other leaders of the party were also receiving threats. “I and my party leaders also received filthy abuses and threats on our mobile phones,” Paras told ANI.

Without naming anyone, Paras said his political rivals were ‘jolted’ by the massive public response he got during his visit to Hajipur on Monday and accused them of resorting to “murderous politics” as a part of a conspiracy. He also alleged that the Bihar Police did not follow proper security protocols during the visit.

Pashupati Kumar Paras, who is the younger brother of late Union minister and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan, has been at loggerheads with Paswan’s son Chirag over the leadership of the party. In June, Paras was unanimously elected as leader of the LJP in the Lok Sabha, after five of the six MPs of the party joined hands against Chirag Paswan and elected Paras in his place.

Meanwhile, Chirag has also been on a tour across Bihar to rally support around his leadership.

(With ANI inputs)