Chirag Paswan says will move court if Paras is given Cabinet berth on LJP quota
Chirag, who is locked in a power tussle with the Paras-led faction, ever since the party split on June 17, said his party continued to be with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre.
Amid speculations of Pashupati Kumar Paras securing a berth in the Union cabinet expansion, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan on Tuesday said that he has already informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the suspension of five party MPs and that he would go to court if his uncle was inducted on the party quota.
“If any of them gets included in the Cabinet from the party’s quota, I will certainly have an objection to it and I may have to take legal recourse. If anyone is made minister as an independent or from some other party, I have no issue, as it is entirely the prerogative of the Prime Minister. But as far as the LJP is concerned, the party Constitution allows me to be the president and the matter is before the Election Commission (EC) as well as the Lok Sabha Speaker,” he told reporters at his residence in Patna.
“I have already written to PM Modi as well as the EC in this regard. A common practice is that the party president is consulted if anyone from the party has to be included in the cabinet,” he added.
Chirag, who is locked in a power tussle with the Paras-led faction, ever since the party split on June 17, said his party continued to be with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre. In the 2019 elections, LJP had won six seats as an NDA member.
The MP from Jamui seat, who launched his ‘Ashirvad Yatra’ from Hajipur on Monday to mark the the birth anniversary of his father and party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, accused his uncle of engineering the split in the LJP to become a minister at the behest of chief minister Nitish Kumar. “It is ironic that Nitish Kumar always tried to insult my father, but my uncle chose to sit in his lap even at the cost of the family and party, which gave him everything,” Chirag said.
The LJP leader said he had chosen the difficult path for himself as this was the lesson his father taught. “I am not eager to become a minister, as my first objective is to build the party as a viable alternative in Bihar. Even when my father was around, attempts were made to break the party, but LJP continued its march. It will continue its march and I am overwhelmed with the response of the people for my Ashirvad Yatra the very first day,” he added.
A faction of the LJP headed by Hajipur MP Paras last month removed his estranged nephew Paswan as the party chief, prompting Paswan’s loyalists to respond by stripping five rebel parliamentarians of the party’s primary membership. The party, which has six MPs but no MLAs, plunged into a crisis after five lawmakers rebelled against Paswan’s leadership and chose Paras as the new leader of the parliamentary party.
Chirag later met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and urged him to reconsider his decision to recognise Paras as the parliamentary party leader, saying it was against the party’s constitution. He also said that the party will consider taking the legal route if his demand was not considered by the Lok Sabha Speaker.