Chirag Paswan names Raju Tiwari as the LJP’s Bihar unit president
The fight over the control of the Lok Janshakti Party — split down the middle over a feud in the Paswan family — continued till late on Wednesday with Chirag Paswan making a fresh appointment.
Removed from the party’s top post by the rebel faction of the party led by his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, Paswan named his right-hand man Raju Tiwari as the party’s Bihar unit president, reported news agency ANI.
The post was held by Paswan’s cousin Prince Raj — one of the five MPs who rebelled on Monday under the leadership of Paras and asked the Lok Sabha Speaker recognise them as a separate group.
Isolated within the party by the coup, Chirag Paswan declared himself a “sher ka bachcha” (a lion cub) at a media conference yesterday, indicating that he was ready for a fight.
At the same time, he kept up an emotional approach, saying he became an “orphan” after his uncle left him and not when he lost his father.
Paras has spurned all attempts at reconciliation. Paswan’s compromise formula of naming his mother the party chief was not even given a hearing.
The 71-year-old has claimed that he had been snubbed and humiliated by his nephew after the death of his brother Ramvilas Paswan. The feud had escalated over Chirag Paswan’s decision to break away from the NDA during the Bihar elections and contest against Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United.