With Hajipur Seat in His Kitty, Chirag Paswan Wins Final Showdown Against Uncle Pashupati Paras – News18

Pashupati Paras and Chirag Paswan are the latest chacha-bhatija (uncle-nephew) in Indian politics to have a showdown and as with so many other political families before, the nephew may have just won the final round. An upset Paras may soon resign as the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, sources told News18.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which both Paswan and Paras are now part of after the former returned to the fold, announced its seat-sharing formula for Lok Sabha elections in Bihar on Monday. The BJP gets 17 seats, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) gets 16, Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas) gets five and one apiece goes to Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

Pashupati Paras’s Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) has been left out in the cold. Adding insult to injury, the bone of contention between the uncle-nephew, the Hajipur seat once held by family patriarch Ram Vilas Paswan, goes to Chirag Paswan.

Sources say the BJP leadership recently held a meeting with Paras and offered to make him the Governor of a state and accommodate his nephew Prince Raj (son of Ramachandra Paswan), as a minister in the Bihar government. There was said to be no movement on the offer, but with the seat-sharing deal announced on Monday, Paras has little choice in the matter.

“Pashupati Paras is all set to resign as a minister in the Narendra Modi government within the next 24 to 48 hours. He has been very upset with no discussion taking place with him about the seat-sharing arrangements,” a source close to Paras told News18.

Genesis of the Rift

The Paswan family feud can be traced back to 2015, five years before Ram Vilas Pawan’s demise. Much to the dislike of many family members, Pawan Senior picked his son Chirag to become the head of the Lok Janshakti Party’s parliamentary board, the topmost decision body of the LJP.

“Despite requests from various quarters, Chirag had refused to give a Lok Sabha seat to his younger cousin Prince Raj. Prince’s father Ramachandra became MP and it was only after his death and because of the bypoll that Prince was allowed to emerge on the national scene,” a family member told News18 on condition of anonymity.

The family feud worsened in the subsequent years as did Ram Vilas Pawan’s health. The veteran politician passed away in 2020, just a couple of weeks before Bihar Assembly elections. It was then that Chirag Paswan emerged on the scene, challenging the BJP-JDU combine.

“Chirag Paswan has always been very obedient of the BJP top leadership, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He calls himself ‘Modi‘s Hanuman’. The kind of help and support that the family got from both JP Nadda and Amit Shah left Chirag extremely emotional. This is the reason that he has reconciled all the differences and chosen to stay with the NDA,” another source in the Chirag Paswan camp told News18.

In 2021, Pashupati Paras and four MPs, including Prince Raj, rebelled against Chirag Paswan and declared their own faction as the actual LJP. Both Pashupati Paras and Chirag Paswan took the matter to court and were given separate symbols and party names.

Chirag Paswan had even refused to vacate the official bungalow which his late father lived in. Since he was no longer eligible to stay there, the bungalow was offered to his uncle. But the and Union Minister declined the offer, saying he did not want to be accused of political vendetta.

All is Well?

At an NDA meeting last year, Chirag Paswan and Pashupati Paras seemingly buried the hatchet, swearing their commitment to the BJP-led alliance. But the Hajipur seat soon became the focal point of residual animosity.

As far as the BJP is concerned, picking Chirag over Paras made mathematical sense. “The Paswan factor holds a lot of pull in several constituencies in Bihar. It accounts for anywhere between 4% to 7% votes. The party is convinced that the Paswan votes are strongly with the Chirag faction,” a BJP source said.