Day after the coup led by his uncle and LJP leader Pashupati Kumar Paras, Chirag Paswan has been removed as the national president for the Lok Janshakti Party on Tuesday. Former MP and LJP leader Surajbhan Singh has been appointed as the National Working President of the party until a new president is elected. The party has also given him the charge to conduct elections for the appointment of the party’s national president.
Soon after the announcement, Chirag Paswan retaliated by “expelling” uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras and four other MPs who have revolted against him, making it a fight between two factions of the LJP. Chirag Paswan’s supporters blackened posters at the LJP office in Delhi, which doubles up as Pashupati Paras’s home, and tried to take over the building. Chirag Paswan was removed as national president of LJP on the principle of “One Man, One Post”, said the rebels, adding that he held three. According to sources, the rebels intend to strip him of every position of power he has held since he took over from his father and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan. In his first reaction after his uncle ousted him as the leader of the party in Lok Sabha, Paswan today likened the organisation to a mother who should not be “betrayed”. In a tweet, he said he made efforts to keep the party founded by his father Ram Vilas Paswan and his family together but failed. People are supreme in a democracy, Paswan said and thanked those who have kept faith in the party.
