HC junks Chirag Paswan’s plea against Pashupati Paras’ appointment as LJP leader

Justice Rekha Palli said the court was inclined to impose a cost on Chirag Paswan but refrained from doing so after a counsel made a request to the bench.

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan’s plea challenging Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision to recognise Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the party in the Lower House, according to news agency PTI.

Chirag, son of late Union minister and founder of the LJP Ram Vilas Paswan, on several occasions, has expressed his disappointment over the event, accusing his uncle Paras of betrayal. (PTI)

Stating that there was no merit in the petition, Justice Rekha Palli said the court was inclined to impose a cost on Chirag Paswan but refrained from doing so after a counsel made a request to the bench. Paswan’s petition sought setting aside the speaker’s June 14 circular which displayed Paras’ names as the leader of LJP in the Lok Sabha.

Paras was sworn-in as Union minister for food processing on July 7. Weeks ago, he had ousted Paswan as the party’s national president with the help of Prince Raj, Chandan Singh, Veena Devi and Mehboob Ali Kaiser.

Chirag, son of late Union minister and founder of the LJP Ram Vilas Paswan, on several occasions, has expressed his disappointment over the event, accusing his uncle Paras of betrayal. During an episode of The Interview with HT last month, Paswan said that the five ‘rebel leaders’ betrayed what his father stood for.

He also said that he had expected the Bharatiya Janata Party to be more vocal about the split in the LJP but Paras’ induction to the Union cabinet suggested otherwise. “The silence definitely hurts. I expected them to be a little more vocal. There are rumours that the local or state unit of the BJP may be involved in this,” Paswan said earlier in June. Paswan also blames Bihar chief minister and JDU supremo Nitish Kumar for engineering the split within the party.

“It seems obvious but he may not be directly involved in this, but if his party workers were involved in this, and he remained silent that clearly shows he was supportive of them. It is Nitish Kumar and his partymen who have targeted not only my party but also my family members this time,” he further said.