Tried to keep party, family together but failed: Chirag Paswan

Patna, June 15: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan on Tuesday broke his silence over the coup in his party led by his uncle, which removed leader of the LJP parliamentary party, causing a big churn in Bihar politics.

Paswan 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.

Paswan also shared a letter he had written to Paras, the youngest brother of his father, in March in which he had highlighted his uncle's unhappiness over a number of issues, including his elevation as the party president.

As the news of Chirag Paswan being removed from the party's top post broke, his supporters smeared black ink on the posters of the five rebel LJP MLAs outside the party's office in Patna.

The five MPs to rebel are Pashupati Paras (Hajipur), Chandan Kumar Singh (Nawada), Mehboob Ali Kaiser (Khagaria), Veena Devi (Vaishali), and Prince Raj (Samastipur).

Soon after Paras spoke to reporters, Paswan drove to his uncle's residence in the national capital to meet him. Paswan's cousin and MP Prince Raj also stays at the same address.

After spending over 90 minutes at the residence of Paras and Prince Raj, Paswan left without saying a word to the waiting media persons.

It is believed that neither of the two rebel MPs met him. A household help said the two were not at home when the LJP chief arrived.

While the rebel group has long been unhappy with Chirag Paswan's style of functioning, sources close to Chirag have blamed the JD(U) for the split, saying the party had long been working to isolate the LJP president after his decision to go all out against Chief Minister Kumar in the 2020 assembly polls.