New Delhi:

Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) President, Chirag Paswan, addressed his status as a “nepotism kid” in a podcast with news agency ANI. As the son of Ram Vilas Paswan, the founder of the undivided LJP, Mr Paswan acknowledged his privilege but also highlighted the inherent challenges of being the son of an influential political leader. 

Mr Paswan, who serves as the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries in Modi 3.0, said, “I am a nepo kid, I can’t shy away from that fact. I am proud that I am the son of Ram Vilas Paswan. For me, it is a matter of pride.”

“If you do good work, people say that it is because of your parents. So the credit is not yours. But if you do bad, then you will hear abuses. So you are always on a double-edged sword,” he added. 

Despite his privileged position as the son of a party leader, Mr Paswan claimed that his rise to the party’s leadership was not automatic. He had to prove himself, especially after the split within the LJP orchestrated by his uncle, Pashupati Paras. 

Mr Paras, Ram Vilas Paswan’s brother, was the MP from Hajipur, a constituency with a strong Paswan vote bank. However, the last assembly polls indicated that the 6 per cent Paswan vote had consolidated behind Chirag Paswan, a factor the BJP considered when excluding Pashupati Paras from the seat-sharing arrangement for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Ram Vilas Paswan had secured the Hajipur seat eight times, with four consecutive victories starting in 1996. In the 2024 polls, Chirag Paswan won the seat by over 1.7 lakh votes.

“I lost everything – the party, the symbol, the organisation, and the house we stayed in for three decades. So everything was taken away from me. I had to start from scratch; I did not even know how to make a new party,” Chirag Paswan said.

Following the LJP split, Chirag Paswan contested the 2020 Bihar assembly elections independently, fielding candidates solely against the JD(U), despite remaining within the NDA fold. He led his party’s revival through the “Ashirwad Yatra” in Bihar, ahead of the 2024 general elections. A staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Paswan’s party won all five seats it contested, making it the only NDA partner with a 100 per cent win rate. 
 

Patna:

Former Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras on Friday squarely blamed nephew Chirag Paswan for his non-participation in the poll campaign in Hajipur, the seat he currently represents but is now being contested by the latter.

Mr Paras also said Chirag, the son of late Ram Vilas Paswan, has “never bothered to come and seek blessings” from his uncle.

“I have never been invited”, was the curt reply of Paras, when he was asked about his absence in Hajipur from where Chirag has filed his nomination.

The seat had earlier been represented by Ram Vilas Paswan nine times.

Chirag’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has got five seats in Bihar as per the seat-sharing formula decided by the BJP-led coalition.

The formula has left Paras high and dry and he has reacted by resigning from the Union cabinet but chosen to remain with the BJP-led NDA.

“I stay just a few hundred metres away from the Patna airport where Chirag goes almost every day to catch his helicopter. He has never bothered to come and seek my blessings even though I am older than him. My party leaders have been campaigning for NDA candidates in Bihar”, said Paras who leads the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP).

Chirag was the national president of Lok Janshakti Party, founded by Ram Vilas Paswan until it was split in 2021.

Mr Paras had claimed that the split was a consequence of the “Chirag model”, which had caused the NDA partner JD(U)’s tally to crash in the assembly polls held the year before.

Chirag had earlier told PTI that he was “not sure whether even time will be able to heal the wounds” inflicted upon him by his uncle, while profusely thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “always standing” by him to the extent it was possible.

Commenting on PM Modi’s roadshow in Patna on May 12, Paras said, “It will be a grand roadshow by the PM in Patna. The NDA will win 400 plus seats in the country and all 40 seats in Bihar”. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Ending speculation of a rift with the NDA over seat allotments for the Lok Sabha, which gained ground after his resignation from the central cabinet, Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) president Pashupati Kumar Paras called on BJP national president JP Nadda at the latter’s New Delhi residence on Tuesday.

Sulking after the NDA set aside five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar for the Chirang Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), including Hajipur which he currently represents in the Lower House, Mr Paras, in a media briefing, had accused the BJP of ‘injustice’.

Taking to his official handle on X, Mr Nadda posted in Hindi that the LJP faction led by Mr Paras will extend full support to all the 40 NDA candidates in Bihar, in a broad indication that he has settled his differences with the ruling alliance at the Centre ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

“Met our NDA ally and head of RLJP @PashupatiParas at my residence in New Delhi. As a valued NDA member, Pashupati-ji did good work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Our alliance will remain strong going into the Lok Sabha elections and his (Mr Paras’s) party will extend full support to all 40 NDA candidates in Bihar. He will throw his weight behind our candidates and ensure their victory in the elections,” Mr Nadda added.

Announcing his resignation as Union Minister earlier this month, Mr Paras charged the BJP of ”injustice’ after losing out on a ticket from Hajipur. None of his party members found himself on the NDA ticket for the ensuing seven-phased general elections.

As part of the deal the NDA clinched with Chirag Paswan earlier, his party will contest five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

Mr Paswan is eyeing a term in the lower house from the Hajipur constituency, which was represented for several terms by his father, former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

After the press briefing where he voiced his dissent after being denied a ticket from Hajipur, it was speculated that Mr Paras might put himself in the fray again as an Independent with support from the INDIA bloc.

Mr Paras had, however, on Saturday put to rest all speculation around his nomination from Hajipur, saying he will “continue supporting the NDA” in the Lok Sabha polls. But he had not called a truce with nephew Chirag.

Tagging Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Nadda, and the BJP’s Bihar in-charge Vinod Tawde in a post on X, Paras had written in Hindi, “The Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party is a part of the NDA and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is our leader.”

He had said the decision to put Chirag in the fray from Hajipur this time was ‘supreme’, adding, “We will extend our full support to our candidates to ensure that the NDA reaches its target of 400 seats and wins all 40 seats in Bihar”.

As part of a broad understanding reached between the BJP and its NDA constituents in Bihar, the former will contest 17 seats while its ruling partner in the state Janata Dal United will field nominees in another 16. Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Aawam Morcha (HAM) and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) will contest one seat each while the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest the remaining five seats.

The undivided LJP, founded by Ram Vilas Paswan, split into two factions in 2021, with Chirag Paswan and Mr Paras leading the rival outfits.

In the 2019 polls, Mr Paras won Hajipur while Chirag Paswan scored a thumping win from Jamui.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras on Saturday made it clear that he will “continue to support the NDA” in the Lok Sabha polls but fell short of calling a truce with nephew Chirag Paswan.

Pashupati Paras, who has been avoiding the press ever since he came back to Bihar after giving up his ministerial berth in disgust, made a statement on the social media site X.

Tagging Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and the party’s Bihar in-charge Vinod Tawde, Paras wrote in Hindi, “Our Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party is a part of NDA and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is our leader.” Paras, whose Hajipur Lok Sabha seat is being contested by Chirag Paswan, as the NDA candidate, said Modi’s “decision is supreme for us. Our full support will be there to ensure that the NDA crosses the 400-mark and wins all 40 seats in Bihar”.

Pashupati Paras had quit the Union cabinet after the NDA gave five seats to Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) while leaving him high and dry.

His party came into being after he split, in 2021, Lok Janshakti Party founded by late brother and Chirag Paswan’s father Ram Vilas Paswan.

Although Pashupati Paras had then succeeded in getting the support of all LJP MPs, except Chirag Paswan, they have now deserted him, trying to curry favour with his nephew or exploring prospects in the BJP.

Speculations had been rife that Paras, who had been hopeful that the BJP would back him for a second consecutive term in Hajipur, might enter the fray as a rebel candidate and get support from the INDIA bloc.

However, on Friday the RJD, the largest opposition party in Bihar, made it clear that it would field its own candidate from the reserved seat which late Paswan had represented several times and his son is contesting to drive home the point that he, and not Paras, was the true heir to his father’s legacy.

The BJP has been of the view that the nephew and the uncle should “come together”, though Chirag Paswan has maintained that the ball was in the court of Paras, who was “the one to cause a split in the family and the party”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The BJP announcement of seat sharing in Bihar has publicly cut out Pashupati Paras — the estranged uncle of Chirag Paswan who controls a faction of the Lok Janshakti Party — leaving him completely isolated. The 71-year-old, who three years ago appeared to hold all the cards, splitting the LJP and being rewarded with a berth in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, is now fighting for political survival.

Sources said Mr Paras will step down from the Union cabinet and his MLAs have touched base with the INDIA alliance, which a week ago, was jockeying for an alliance with Chirag Paswan. Mr Paras had warned about this last week, saying he is “free to go anywhere”.

Mr Paswan, who once described himself as devoted as “Hanuman” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has stuck to the NDA, getting only five seats of the six he aspired for. The list, however, contains Hajipur, the seat that once belonged to his late father, Ram Vilas Paswan.   

Pashupati Paras, the brother of Ram Vilas Paswan, is the sitting MP from Hajipur. If he tries to hold onto the seat, he would be up against his nephew this time. Such a battle promises to be among the most-watched.

The last assembly polls in the state made it clear that the 6 per cent Paswan vote has rallied to Chirag Paswan — a situation that the BJP had factored in while dropping Pashupati Paras from the seat sharing equation.

Ram Vilas Paswan had won from Hajipur eight times, four of them being consecutive victories staring 1996.

The rest of Chirag Paswan’s list has Samastipur, Jamui, Vaishali and Khagaria — among the six seats the undivided LJP won in 2019.

The only fly in the NDA ointment could be Chirag Paswan’s strained relation with Nitish Kumar. The Chief Minister has always blamed the poor performance of his party in the 2020 assembly election to the Paswan factor.

After Pashupati Paras had split the LJP — with alleged concurrence of the BJP — Chirag Paswan had contested solo in the assembly election and split the pro-NDA votes. It had left the JD(U) compromised.

Ending up with far fewer seats than the BJP, the JD(U) had to cede the big brother position to it.

Many JD(U) leaders had privately called it a BJP move to clip Nitish Kumar’s wings and gain the upper hand in Bihar.

Since the 2020 election, Mr Kumar and Chirag Paswan have not patched up.

New Delhi:

In signs of trouble for the NDA, Rashtriya Lok Janshakti party chief and Union Minister Pashupati Paras has said that all five MPs from his party, including him, will contest from their respective seats in Bihar. He has also warned that his party is “free to go anywhere”. 

Mr Paras’ statement comes amid reports that the alliance has finalised seat-sharing for the state and has decided not to leave any, including the RLJP chief’s constituency of Hajipur, for his party. 

As part of the NDA’s Bihar seat-sharing deal, five seats have reportedly been allotted to the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Mr Paras’ nephew, Chirag Paswan. The party will also contest the Hajipur seat, which was won by Chirag Paswan’s father and Mr Paras’ brother, Ram Vilas Paswan, nine times since 1977. 

The Lok Janshakti Party founded by Mr Paswan had split into the RLJP and the LJP (Ram Vilas) in 2021, a year after the leader’s death, following moves by Mr Paras. 

While expressing his disappointment with the NDA’s decision on Friday, Mr Paras also left the door open for the alliance. He said his party remains a member of the NDA and has not spoken to the opposition INDIA grouping, but warned that things could change if his party is not given “due respect”.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, the RLJP chief said in Hindi, “We are part of the NDA and we have honestly maintained our alliance. I respect PM Modi, Mr Shah and the BJP president. The news that we are getting from the media is that our party has not been given preference.”

“Many of our workers are disappointed. People in politics are not ascetics, they need to go among the people, who are supreme. We would request the PM, Mr Shah and Mr Nadda to reconsider. We will wait till the BJP list is announced. After that, if we are not given due respect, we are independent. Our doors are open. We are free to go anywhere,” he said.

Claiming that justice has not been done to his party, Mr Paras also pointed out that his was a party of Dalits and not giving tickets to Paswan candidates was sending a wrong message to the country. “We are waiting for them to reconsider,” he said.

Chirag Paswan had said on Wednesday that the seat-sharing deal between him and the BJP has been sealed. The formula, according to sources, is that the BJP will contest 17 of the state’s 40 seats, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United will get 16, Mr Paswan five and Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party one each. 

The BJP will be keen on keeping Mr Paras in the fold as well because the NDA, including the then undivided LJP had won 39 seats in the state, which sends the fourth-highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha. With the RJD and the Congress coalition appearing stronger in Bihar than they did in 2019, the state will be crucial in helping the BJP achieve its target of winning 370 seats on its own and 400 as part of the NDA. 

New Delhi:

When it comes to Chirag Paswan versus his uncle Pashupati Paras in Bihar, the BJP has finally picked a side, weeks before the national election. Even if it means upsetting Nitish Kumar, who has returned to the NDA after his latest alliance switch.

The BJP has conceded Chirag Paswan’s demand for five seats, including the critical Hajipur seat that elected his father Ram Vilas Paswan seven times and where his estranged uncle Pashupati Paras won in the last Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

The BJP, no longer playing Nitish Kumar’s sidekick in Bihar, has taken the lead in the NDA fight in the state. It will contest 17 of Bihar’s 40 seats, Nitish Kumar’s party will fight 16 seats, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will contest five, and Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi will contest one seat each.

Pashupati Paras, who revolted against nephew Chirag Paswan and split the LJP in 2021, has joined the ranks of the BJP’s dumped allies, along with Dushyant Chautala in Haryana.

This came to pass after tough negotiations during which Chirag Paswan even seemed to flirt with Lalu Yadav’s RJD. He claimed that the opposition ranks had offered him eight seats. In sticking with the BJP, however, Chirag Paswan has settled for five.

In Bihar, the major vote shares belong to Nitish Kumar’s party, Lalu Yadav’s party, and BJP – all in double digits. The Paswan votes, which make up six percent of the vote share, are mainly with Chirag Paswan, whose father Ram Vilas Paswan was the most influential leader of the community.

The BJP has made it clear that it considers Chirag Paswan the true political heir to his father’s base – a course correction after it supported Pashupati Paras’s move to split the party in 2021. Nitish Kumar, whose acrimony with Chirag Paswan is legendary, engineered the split, along with a supportive BJP.

Chirag Paswan hit the streets immediately, and within months, it was clear to all, including the Bihar BJP, that he controls the Paswan votes. So, after Nitish Kumar ditched the BJP the very next year, the BJP reached out to Chirag Paswan – even though his estranged uncle made it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet – and ensured he campaigned extensively for it in every by-election.

Chirag Paswan has managed to hold his own, not bothering to make nice with Nitish Kumar in the weeks since his return to the NDA in January. Chirag Paswan has not called Nitish Kumar until now. Regardless, the BJP’s leadership has conceded his demands in seat negotiations, effectively sinking Pashupati Paras and his faction.