Pashupati Kumar Paras, leader of the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party and former Union Minister, has formally announced his party’s withdrawal from the National Democratic Alliance . This decision follows the RLJP’s exclusion from the NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
At a press conference in New Delhi, Paras expressed his dissatisfaction, stating that despite the RLJP’s contributions to the alliance, the party was not allocated any seats. He remarked, “Our party had five MPs and I worked with utmost sincerity… Injustice has been done with us and our party.” Consequently, he tendered his resignation from the Union cabinet, emphasizing that the RLJP would no longer be part of the ruling coalition at both the state and central levels.
The NDA’s seat-sharing agreement in Bihar allocated 17 seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party , 16 to the Janata Dal , and five to the Lok Janshakti Party led by Paras’s nephew, Chirag Paswan. Other allies, such as the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, were each given one seat. The RLJP’s omission from this arrangement has been a point of contention, especially given the party’s previous representation in the Lok Sabha.
The rift between Paras and Chirag Paswan has been ongoing since the division of the original Lok Janshakti Party. Paras, who had taken five of the six MPs with him during the split, has been at odds with his nephew over party leadership and electoral strategies. The current dispute over the Hajipur constituency, a traditional stronghold of the Paswan family, has further intensified their rivalry.
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