Was Chirag Paswan betrayed? Latest updates on crisis within LJP

Chirag Paswan, isolated in Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and removed from the post of national president of the LJP on Tuesday, suspended the five rebel Lok Sabha MPs who revolted and chose Pashupati Kumar Paras as their leader.

Paras, Chirag Paswan's uncle and the younger brother of Ram Vilas Paswan, is believed to have led the coup against his nephew with the help from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A rift between the two came to light when Paras stood against Paswan's decision to break away from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar election last year. While LJP ended up winning only one seat, it was responsible for cutting out on the vote share of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU).

Rebels thrown out

Chirag Paswan suspended the five rebel MPs from his party a day after they replaced him as the party's parliamentary leader with Paras.

LJP leader Raju Tiwari said that the five MPs were given notice to which they did not respond. They were suspended after a virtual meeting of the party's national executive was held.

Paswan, who was later removed from the post of LJP national president, had taken over the reigns of the party after his father and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan died in October last year.

Sidelined, Chirag tried to meet uncle and salvage situation

Chirag Paswan went to meet Paras in New Delhi on Monday. However, according to news agency PTI, Paswan was only allowed inside his uncle's residence after waiting for some time in his car. Chirag Paswan's cousin and MP Prince Raj also lives at Paras's house. Neither Paras nor Prince was seen outside their residence as Paswan waited.

Prince Raj is also one of the rebels who revolted against Paswan.

Who are the rebels?

Along with Pashupati Kumar Paras, Prince Raj, Chandan Singh, Veena Devi and Mehboob Ali Keshar revolted against Paswan. The sixth MP of the party is Paswan himself.

“There are six MPs in our party. It was the desire of five 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.

Surajbhan Singh - the new working president

After Chirag Paswan was removed from the top post, Surajbhan Singh was made the national working president. The 56-year-old LJP leader was also authorised to convene a meeting of party's national council within five days to elect its new national president.

Is it fair to blame Nitish Kumar for LJP split?

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU), an ally of the BJP-led NDA in the state, faced a setback in the 2019 elections when Chirag Paswan decided to break away from the alliance. While the LJP won only one seat out of the total 243, Paswan's decision resulted in a negative impact on JDU's vote share, which in turn resulted in its weak position in the NDA alliance.

Following this, a few JDU leaders were reported to have gone behind the back of Paswan to approach LJP MPs and Paras and encourage them to oust their leader from the post of parliamentary party leader and party president.

The BJP, however, has maintained a silence on the happenings so far. “What do we have to do with whatever is happening? It is an internal matter of the LJP.” said Bihar BJP president, Sanjay Jaiswal.