I am LJP president, have approached Election Commission, says Chirag Paswan

Chirag Paswan ejected his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras's election as the party president and said that only 9 members were present at the meeting in Patna which elected Paras. This is against the constitution of the party, Chirag said.

As Lok Janshakti Party MP Pashipati Kumar, the uncle of Chirag Paswan, was formally elected as the new national president of the party on Thursday, Chirag said he is prepared for a long battle and is also ready to approach the Supreme Court if needed. Dismissing the election of his uncle to the post of president, Chirag said only 9 members were present at the national executive meeting, which is illegal. "I have written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Ji to reconsider his decision to accept him (Pashupati Kumar Paras) as leader of the parliamentary party. Our party constitution says leader of the party in Parliament or Assembly will be elected by Central parliamentary board," Chirag said, adding that the Speaker might not be aware of the party's constitution. He said he has also written to the Election Commission, urging it to stop the Paras-headed faction from using its symbol and flag in its meeting.

Chirag Paswan said he approached the Election Commission urging it to stop the Paras-headed faction from using the party's symbol and flag (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO) (HT_PRINT)

LJP's general secretary Abdul Khaliq said a physical meeting of its national executive will be held in the national capital on Sunday to reiterate Paswan's earlier election as its national president amid the split in the organisation after Paras and four other party MPs staged a coup against him, PTI reported.

"The faction headed by my uncle can be an independent group but cannot represent LJP," Chirag said.

The LJP has six MPs, including Paswan, in Lok Sabha and none in Rajya Sabha. Five of its MPs recently elected Paras as their president in place of Paswan. Lok Sabha secretariat then notified his election after all five of them met the Speaker with their representation.

Paras, on the other hand, said the rift between the two camps will be addressed and sorted out. "I have just been appointed as the national president of the party. I can not change things in a minute. Give us time, we will sort out every fissure in the party by sitting together and further strengthen the party," Paras said.

Om Birla accepted Paras as the floor leader of the LJP in the lower house. In a revised list of floor leaders of parties on Monday Paras was listed as the Lok Sabha LJP leader. LJP was formed by former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in 2000. Paswan, a heavyweight leader in Bihar politics, passed away in October 2020.

(With agency inputs)