Union Minister for Food Processing Pashupati Paras on Tuesday announced he was resigning from the government owing to “injustice” meted out to him, a day after his Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) was not included in the NDA seat sharing arrangement made public by the BJP.

He also said the RLJP was withdrawing from the BJP-led national alliance.

While announcing the arrangement among the NDA allies for contesting 40 Lok Sabha constituencies, the BJP gave five seats to the other faction of LJP (Ram Vilas) headed by Chirag Paswan and rebuffed Paras by dissociating his party from electoral alliance.

The LJP was split into two in 2021 after the death of the party founder and union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. One faction of the LJP is lead by Ram Vilas’ son Chirag Paswan and the other by his brother Pashupati Paras.

NDA Deal

“The NDA (the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance) deal has been announced. I am grateful to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi). My party and I faced injustice. So I am resigning as minister,” Paras told media. He however, said that he would again contest general elections from Hazaribagh seat, which is he represents now and is a pocket borough of Paswan Dalit community.

Ram Vilas Paswan had won the LS polls from Hazaribagh seven times and after his death his brother Paras won it in 2019.

Though there is buzz that Paras might join INDIA alliance, Paras did not open his cards on any alliance his party was contemplating ahead of elections. RLJP leaders will meet soon to decide its next course of action, party spokesperson Shravan Agarwal said.

Press conference

Interestingly, none of the six Lok Sabha MPs of the LJP showed up at the press conference called by Paras, indicating that they are still undecided whom to go with ahead of polls.

In 2019, the LJP had got six seats to contest elections. The BJP has sided with Chirag even at the cost of antagonising Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Chirag has had running feud with the JDU leader since last few years.

The BJP, which had gone along with Paras after the split in the LJP and made him a minister at the centre, has changed course to recognise Ram Vilas’ legacy in his son Chirag. Paswans have 6 percent vote share in Bihar.

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