Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras Saturday ruled out any rapprochement with his estranged nephew and Jamui MP Chirag Paswan, who has been invited to attend the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting due in New Delhi on July 18.
In June 2021, Paras had staged a coup in the erstwhile Lok Jankshakti Party( LJP), removing Chirag Paswan from the party presidentтАЩs post. Out of the six LJP MPs, five sided with Paras. Later, Paras and Chirag Pawan factions got separate names and symbols from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Speaking to a TV news channel on Saturday, Paras, who now heads Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLSP), also stressed that тАЬthere would be no compromise on the Hajipur parliamentary seatтАЭ.
тАЬWe have five MPs .There is a formula in a coalition for allies to get their sitting seats. There will be no compromise on Hajipur seat,тАЭ Paras said in the interview, a video of which he also tweeted.
Referring to his meeting with union minister Nityanand Rai, he said the latter had called on him for тАЬsome settlementтАЭ about Hajipur seat and rapprochement with nephew Chirag Pawan, but he apprised him about тАЬcertain compulsionsтАЭ.
тАЬI have already conveyed to him about my hurt feelings, my compulsions within the family and the party,тАЭ said Paras, the younger brother of Chirag PaswanтАЩs late father Ramvilas Paswan, who had founded the LJP.
Paras had won from Hajipur in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as a candidate of LJP, which was then a part of NDA and won six parliamentary seats from Bihar.
Chirag, on the other hand, has made it clear in the past that he would not renounce his claim on the Hajipur seat, which was represented several times by his father. There are also speculations that Chirag has sought six Lok Sabha seats from the BJP-led NDA as a condition to join the alliance and might also get a berth in the union cabinet if there is a reshuffle.
According to people familiar with the development, Union minister Rai had met Chirag on New Delhi Friday, less than a week after their meeting in Patna on July 9.
Meanwhile, the Jamui MP told reporters in Patna on Saturday that he had indeed got an invite from BJP president J P Nadda to attend the NDA meeting on July 18. тАЬI will hold discussions with my party leaders today and decide,тАЭ said the junior Paswan, who heads LJP (Ramvilas).
Significantly, another regional party from Bihar, formed chief minister Jitan Ram ManjhiтАЩs HAM(S), has also got an invite from Nadda to attend the NDA meeting. Confirming this, ManjhiтАЩs son and HAM(S) president Santosh Kumar Suman, who was till recently a minister in the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, said his party would work to strengthen the NDA in Bihar.
Singh also expressed his desire to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 from Gaya.
Meanwhile, Janata Dal United leader and BiharтАЩs parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said the NDA meet on July 18 showed how the BJP was jittery after the mega opposition unity meeting of 15 parties held in Patna on June 23 and the scheduled second meeting in Bangalore on July 17 and 18.
тАЬAll eyes are on the opposition meeting in Bangalore on July 17-18,тАЭ he said. Asked about possibility of Chirag joining the NDA, he said the junior Paswan has been siding with BJP for long.
