Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan is taking out an Ashirvaad Yatra in Hajipur, Bihar, from today to mark the birth anniversary of his father, late Ram Vilas Paswan.
тАЬI am starting this journey on my fatherтАЩs birth anniversary. We got more over 2.5 million votes in the last assembly election. This was about 6% of all votes even when we fielded candidates only in 135 seats. I should have gone to people to thank them and seek their blessings. But because of Covid-19 and due to my bad health, I could not do that. Now I need to seek the blessings of people when my own family members, my uncle, have gone against me and backstabbed me when I was ill,тАЭ he said.
Hajipur is significant, said Chirag, because Ram Vilas Paswan was elected to Lok Sabha several times from here, making it his тАЬkarmabhoomiтАЭ. Chirag will also be laying a wreath on Dr AmbedkarтАЩs statue at Patna high court.
The first leg of his yatra will cover 12-13 districts. тАЬAfter the first phase, there will be a second phase as well and in the next one and a half months, I will cover the entire state. The yatra will end in a national council meeting in Patna,тАЭ he said.
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LJP vice-president and national spokesperson Ajay Kumar Pandey said, тАЬChirag ji says now that he doesnтАЩt have the support of his family elders, after his uncle left him, people are the only source of his support. He hopes people will support him like they supported his father.тАЭ
Besides the ceremonies planned by political leaders in PaswanтАЩs memory, the late leaderтАЩs wife Reena Paswan will be launching a book written by journalist Pradeep Shrivastava, titled тАШRamvilas Paswan: Sankalp, Sahas Aur SangharshтАЩ.
The LJP faction led by Ram Vilas PaswanтАЩs brother Pashupati Kumar Paras will also be celebrating the late leaderтАЩs birth anniversary at the partyтАЩ state headquarters in Patna. Currently, Paras represents Hajipur in Lok Sabha.
Monday also marks the beginning of the silver jubilee celebrations of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), whose leader Tejashwi Yadav had held out an olive branch to Chirag and reminded him of the close bond between their fathers. RJDтАЩs programme includes a special mention of the garlanding of late Ram Vilas PaswanтАЩs portrait.
