Breaking ties with NDA in Bihar, scoring single seat in assembly polls and more recently, the breakaway of 5 out of 6 party MPs, Chirag Paswan-led LJP has been in the news for major setbacks. Ever since the death of the former party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, his son Chirag has struggling to keep the flock together.
With the recent ‘coup’ today, LJP has been facing a series of defections since the assembly polls last year. Chirag’s rivalry with CM Nitish Kumar and cold relations with uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras has further added to the problems.
Early Career
Chirag started his political career in 2014 winning the Jamui parliamentary seat in Bihar in the general elections that year. He won from the seat for the second time in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
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Chirag was elected as the president of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in November 2019, succeeding his father Ram Vilas Paswan. The elder Paswan was the president of the party ever since its formation on October 28, 2000, after breaking away from the Janata Dal (United) following differences with Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes.
The LJP won six seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the NDA in Centre. Ram Vilas Paswan remained Union Minister from the NDA till his death in October 2020.
Rivalry with Nitish Kumar
Chirag Paswan led a bitter campaign against CM Nitish Kumar in the poll campaign for the assembly elections. He remained vocal against the chief minister calling for a Nitish-free government in Bihar and attacking the Bihar CM for poor handling of the Covid-19 situation, the floods, migrant crisis and employment issues in the state.
However, PM Modi gave his seal of approval to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar as the face of the NDA, saying Kumar had a “very important role” to play in taking Bihar forward on the path to progress.
In the campaign, Chirag was strongly critical of Nitish Kumar and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Soon after his father’s death in October, 2020 Chirag landed in a controversy after a candid video shot went viral. Chirag was be seen joking, talking about ‘cuts and edits’ in Bollywood parlance, and even the ‘texture’ of hair, as he stood in front of Paswan’s smiling portrait. Chirag Paswan blamed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the leak.
Bihar Polls
Before the 2020 assembly elections in Bihar, Chirag Paswan walked out of the NDA alliance in the state in October 2020 over differences in seat-sharing and opposition to Nitish Kumar as the CM candidate. However, it promised a post-poll alliance with the BJP in the state.
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Lok Janshakti Party contested on 138 seats in the 243 assembly seats in the state and fielded candidates against Nitish Kumar’s JD(U). The party avoided fielding candidates on seats allotted to the BJP candidates.
In the first election, the party contested after the death of the elder Paswan, LJP won a single seat but was instrumental in the defeat of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) in at least 36 seats which is evident from its vote share.
However, in April LJP’s single MLA Raj Kumar Singh, who won from Matihani in Begusarai, joined the JD(U). With this, the LJP’s MLA count in Bihar went zero.
‘Crisis’ in LJP
Ever since the death of the father, Chirag Paswan had been having a tumultuous time managing the party ever since his father’s death last year.
In February this year, more than 200 leaders of LJP joined the Janata Dal United (JDU) in Bihar. JD(U) national president RCP Singh announced at a press conference the induction of 208 leaders from the LJP.
Most notable among the turncoats was former state general secretary Keshav Singh who had been in revolt against Chirag Paswan and had been predicting the party’s collapse for some time. Keshav Singh lashed out at Chirag claiming that he was running the party like a corporate house after the demise of his father Ram Vilas Paswan.
With today’s coup where five of six MPs broke away and wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker, asking to be treated as separate group adds further to the problem for the LJP. The revolt is believed to be led by Chirag’s uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras. Paras and Chirag are hardly on talking terms and used to communicate through letters.
It is being speculated that the coup is orchestrated by CM Nitish Kumar, who has been working through close associates of Paswans.
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