The rebel group of the Lok Janshakti Party on Thursday elected Pashupati Kumar Paras unopposed as the new party president. After his election, Mr. Paras, who days before had staged a coup in the party, told mediapersons, “I was elected according to the party’s constitution and democratic process. The party has thrust a big responsibility on me and I’ll take forward the party.”
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The LJP’s national executive committee meeting was held at the residence of senior party leader Suraj Bhan Singh in Patna. Mr. Singh later announced that no other nomination had been filed against Mr. Paras.
After the coup in the party, the rebel LJP group had elected Mr. Singh, a party leader and former MP from Munger, as its working president.
When asked why he and other party leaders had to break away from his nephew Chirag Paswan, the newly elected president said, “If nephew becomes an autocrat, what can an uncle do?”
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“I’ve been elected under the party’s constitution, which says that every three years, election for the party president will take place. No one can be party president for life in a democratic set up,” said the MP from Hajipur.
Mr. Paras also urged partymen who had quit previously to “come back to fulfil dream of party’s founder leader Ram Vilas Paswan”. He asserted that there was no “internal bickering” in the LJP and the party would “take care of people coming from every section of the society”.
The LJP is currently an ally of National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.
Earlier, Mr. Chirag Paswan was removed from the post of LJP president after an emergency meeting of party’s national working committee.
Out of total of six LJP MPs, five rebelled against Mr. Paswan.
Mr Paswan, however, on Wednesday nominated party leader and former MLA Raju Tiwari as the LJP State president.