Chirag Paswan removed as LJP's national president

Chirag Paswan was removed from the post of national president of LJP after five of the party's Lok Sabha MPs rebelled.

Chirag Paswan was removed from the post of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) national president after an emergency meeting of LJP national working committee. He had taken over the reigns of the party after his father and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan died in October last year.

Chirag Paswan took over the reigns of Lok Janshakti Party after his father and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan died in October last year.(File Photo)

Suraj Bhan Singh was made the national working president and was authorised to convene a meeting of party's national council within five days to elect its new national president.

According to party officials familiar with the matter, the meeting to elect the party's next leader is likely to be held in Patna and chances are that Paswan's uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras will be made the next national president.

As the news of Chirag Paswan being removed from the party's top post broke, his supporters smeared black ink on the posters of the five rebel LJP MLAs outside the party's office in Patna, news agency ANI reported.

The development comes after five of the six LJP Lok Sabha MPs revolted and chose Paras as their leader on Saturday. Speaker Om Birla later cleared the proposal.

On Monday, Paswan attempted reconciliation, but in vain, as the rebels rejected his proposal of giving the post of national party president to his mother, if not him.

Paras, the younger brother of Ram Vilas Paswan, was at odds with his nephew's decision to break away from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar election last year. While LJP did not ended up winning only one seat, it was responsible for cutting out on the vote share of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU).

“There are 6 MPs in our party. It was the desire of 5 MPs to save our party. So, I’ve not broken the party, I’ve saved it. Chirag Paswan is my nephew as well as the party's national president. I have no objection against him,” Paras said on Monday.