There are unconfirmed reports that the BJP has offered to appoint Paras as governor and a berth in the Bihar cabinet to his nephew Prince Raj.
M I Khan reports.
Unhappy over the BJP ignoring him and giving more importance to his bhatija (nephew) Chirag Paswan led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) in the seat-sharing formula finalised to contest 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, Union Minister Pasupati Kumar Paras, head of Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP), an ally of the NDA, is likely to take a decision to resign from Prime Minister Narendra Modi government and to dump NDA.
According to sources close to Paras, the RLJP has called a parliamentary board meeting in New Delhi to take a decision to stay with the NDA or not.
Four RLJP MPs -- Paras, Prince Raj, Mahboob Ali Qaiser and Chandan Singh -- will attend the meeting.
BJP leaders in New Delhi are in touch with Paras and trying to convince him not to take any decision in haste.
A high level meeting of RLJP leaders was also held at Paras's official residence in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Paras is reportedly uncomfortable after Chirag claimed that the BJP top leadership has agreed to give his party 5 seats including Hajipur to contest.
Chirag has reportedly demanded six seats including Hajipur which he announced he will contest from.
At present Paras is the MP from Hajipur, having won the seat in 2019. Chirag is MP from Jamui seat that he won in 2014 and 2019.
What angered Paras was that the BJP has given Hajipur to Chirag despite the fact that the former repeatedly asserted that he will contest from Hajipur.
Besides, the top BJP leadership reportedly offered Paras only one seat to contest from, Samastipur, that is currently held by his nephew Prince Raj of RLJP.
Prince Raj is the son of Ramchandar Paswan, Paras's elder brother.
There are unconfirmed reports that the BJP has offered to appoint Paras as governor and a berth in the Bihar cabinet to Prince Raj.
A senior RLJP leader said Paras has refused to accept the offer and demanded decent seats to contest. "Our party leaders will hold a meeting and likely to take a final decision."
He did not rule out the possibility that Paras may join hands with the Mahagathbandhan, which is part of opposition INDIA bloc, to contest the upcoming polls.
Bihar's ruling BJP-led NDA may be strengthened after the re-entry of Nitish Kumar's JD-U and it has an edge over the opposition Mahagathbandhan in the Lok Sabha elections, but the BJP is not in mood to lose its ally RLJP.
In the caste-ridden politics of Bihar, caste equations play a major role to decide the poll outcome.
The BJP understand it and has, after careful consideration, thrown its weight behind the young Chirag, who is widely regarded as the political successor of Ram Vilas Pawan, considered an undisputed leader of "Dusadh" or Paswan, a militant Dalit community.
As per latest Bihar Caste Survey report, Paswans form 5.3 percent of the total population in the state.
Sensing the power of this caste equation in state politics, Chirag last week told a public meeting that "every political party wants me to be on its side". Chirag more or less repeated the words of his father.
Political watchers said Ram Vilas Paswan's importance was his capacity to transfer his caste vote to any coalition or alliance he joined during his long political career.
"Chirag might have the upper hand to gain the support of Dusadh but Paras, a seasoned politician, is not far behind. Paras can damage Chirag if he walked out of NDA. It will be not an easy battle for Chirag."
Chirag is yet to prove that he enjoys his father's popularity.
Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP split in 2021 after his death. Paras revolted against Chirag, who claimed to represent the political legacy of his father.
Paras managed to get the support of five of the six LJP MPs. Only Chirag opposed him.
Since then political rivalry continued between the Chirag led faction of LJP (Ram Vilas) and RLJP headed by Paras.
However, sources in BJP said the top party leadership has finalised a seat-sharing formula and it will be formally announced soon.
The BJP has reportedly decided to contest 17 of 40 seats in Bihar, and accepted the demand of Nitish Kumar's JD-U to give it 16 seats and 5 seats to Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas).
One seat each will be given to Rashtriya Lok Morcha of former Union minister Upendar Kushwaha and Hindustani Awam Morcha of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
After its re-entry in the NDA, Kumar's JD-U was adamant on contesting not less than 16 seats, the number it won in the previous elections.
In the previous Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led NDA secured 39 out of 40 parliamentary seats, with the Congress winning only one seat and the RJD failing to secure any seats, marking a significant setback for the party.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
