No plans to merge LJP factions: Paras

Pictures from the July 18 NDA meet, in which Paras and Chirag were seen in a warm embrace, had triggered speculation of a rapprochement between the estranged kin.

Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) Pashupati Kumar Paras on Saturday categorically ruled out the merger of two factions of the erstwhile Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and dismissed suggestions of a truce with his estranged nephew Chirag Paswan, who heads the second faction called LJP (Ramvilas).

Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras addresses a press conference in Patna on Saturday. (Santosh Kumar/HT)

Addressing a press conference in Patna that was also attended by his party MPs Mehboob Ali Kaiser and Chandan Singh, Paras, 71, reiterated that he would contest the 2024 parliamentary polls from Hajipur, a seat that Chirag Paswan has also staked his claim on.

Chirag’s father and LJP founder (late) Ramvilas Paswan had won the seat several times, often with huge margins.

RLJP has five Lok Sabha members, including Paras. The other two MPs — Veena Devi and Prince Raj, also a nephew of Paras — were not present at the presser.

“I blessed my nephew (Chirag) when he came to me. It is our culture as elders always bless the younger ones. But the gesture has been misconstrued, conveying an impression that the uncle and the nephew have bought peace. No, it is not that way. My party and Chirag’s party are two separate entities despite being in the NDA,” Paras said, referring to the July 18 meeting of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the national capital that both attended.

Pictures from the venue, especially the one in which Paras and Chirag were seen in a warm embrace, had triggered speculation of a rapprochement between the estranged kin.

“Chirag may have joined the NDA meeting on July 18, but technically, he is still not part of the coalition. I and my party are one of the old partners of the NDA,” said the union minister.

Paras and Chirag fell out after the uncle engineered a coup in the erstwhile LJP in 2021, leading to a split in the party. While five MPs sided with Paras, the junior Paswan, who is Lok Sabha MP from Jamui, formed his own faction. Later, the two factions were given separate names and symbols by the Election Commission.

Ahead of the July 18 NDA meeting, Chirag had announced his return to the BJP-led alliance. He has vowed to contest from Hajipur in the 2024 parliamentary polls.

At his press meet today, Paras, however, said he had a bigger right on the seat as he was the true heir of his late brother Ramvilas Paswan on whose instructions he had successfully contested the parliamentary polls from the seat in 2019. “I was the closest to my late brother Ramvilas ji and he had made me his political heir. I have a genuine right on Hajipur seat,” Paras said.

The RLJP chief also dismissed speculations that BJP was trying hard to convince him to give up the Hajipur seat for Chirag and even offered him Governor’s post or a Rajya Sabha seat. “Why should BJP pressure me to give up the Hajipur seat? I have full faith on top BJP leaders who understand my feelings,” he said.

The union minister also claimed his party was intact, with all five MPs with him, and downplayed the recent meeting of his party MP from Vaishali, Veena Devi, with Chirag Paswan. “Not much importance should be attached to it,” he said.

The erstwhile LJP had fought the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as part of NDA and won six seats in Bihar.