“Chacha-Bhatija” Anger Affects Bihar’s NDA? Distressed by the Chirag Deal, Pashupati Paras Could Leave the Modi Cabinet Today

Following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) decision to choose his nephew, Chirag Paswan, who leads a section of the Lok Janshakti Party, over him, Union Minister and leader of the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP), Pashupati Kumar Paras, is expected to step down from the Narendra Modi Cabinet today (Tuesday).

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced on Monday a seat-sharing agreement for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, although Paras’ party was not awarded any seats.

The Union Minister said that they are “free” to move anywhere and that the “doors are open” when he criticized the BJP last week for failing to do justice to his LJP section. He also hinted that he would leave the governing National Democratic Alliance.

Days after the governing party agreed to share seats with Chirag Paswan, disregarding the Union minister’s claim to many Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, including Hajipur, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the BJP.

Increasing the stakes, he said that he would run from Hajipur, a point of dispute between himself and Paswan. His nephew said that the BJP had taken care of all of his worries and that his party would run a candidate for the seat.

Following Ram Vilas Paswan’s death in 2020, the Lok Janshakti Party divided into two factions. As members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), his brother Paras is the leader of the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) and his son Chirag Paswan is the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

Speaking at a news conference, Paras bemoaned the BJP’s lack of “due preference” for his party when it came to seat-sharing in Bihar for the Lok Sabha elections and suggested that the party’s leadership should change its mind.

He said that the RLJP has been a “honest ally” of the BJP and that its leadership ought to have made a choice with the party’s five state MPs in mind.

According to Paras, his party has so far lived up to its “friendship” with the BJP. However, our party has not received justice. Before making a choice, we’ll wait for the BJP to formally select its candidates,” he said.