How Nitish avenged his drubbing by splitting LJP

When Ram Vilas Paswan’s younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras led a Sunday coup and split the LJP with five of the six Lok Sabha MPs swearing allegiance to him, he was just playing as per the script written and directed by the ruling party in Bihar.

Those who know Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar well will tell you: He never forgets and forgives so easily.

So, when a much-junior Chirag Paswan, the LJP president, was spewing venom about Nitish in November 2020 and threatening to put him behind bars once the Bihar Assembly polls are over, it was quite clear the over-ambitious Paswan scion had shot himself in the foot.

Watch the chronology of how the JD(U) strongman weakened Chirag in an assiduously crafted design.

Also read: LJP implodes, five MPs oust Chirag Paswan as leader, elect Pashupati Kumar Paras

First, he made the lone LJP MLA join the JD(U), and the lone LJP MLC join the BJP. Thereafter he assigned his trusted aide and JD(U) Lok Sabha MP Lallan Singh the task to extend an olive branch to the LJP MP, Paras.

Paras was already indebted to Nitish ever since the Bihar Chief Minister made him a Cabinet minister (Animal Husbandry) in 2017 when he was neither an MLA nor MLC. On the other hand, Paras was unhappy with Chirag ever since the latter admonished him for praising Nitish soon after Ram Vilas Paswan’s death.

Successful in winning over Paras, the second one to be poached was Prince Raj, son of Ram Vilas Paswan’s younger brother late Ram Chandra Paswan. Prince became a Lok Sabha MP after the seat was vacated following his father’s untimely demise. Incidentally, Paras’ wife and Prince’s mother are sisters. So, it was easy to persuade Prince to cross over the fence.

Also read: Churn in Bihar politics: Internal rebellion in LJP

The third LJP MP was Chandan Singh, brother of former LJP MP Surajbhan Singh. Surajbhan enjoys a personal rapport with Lallan Singh, while Chandan has a good equation with Nitish.

With half the battle won, the fourth target was the LJP MP from Vaishali, Veena Devi. Her husband Dinesh Singh is a JD-U MLC and, therefore, it was easy to convince her to dump Chirag.

The fifth LJP MP Mehboob Ali Kaisar had a running feud with the top LJP leadership. “In fact, he was almost denied the Lok Sabha ticket from Khagaria during 2019 parliamentary polls. It was the timely intervention by Nitish which saved his day. Since then, Kaisar has been indebted to Nitish,” a ruling party source told Deccan Herald on Monday.

In weaning away all these five LJP MPs, one more key aide of Nitish, Maheshwar Hazari, played a crucial role. A senior JD(U) leader, Hazari is Paras's cousin and has always maintained cordial ties with everyone despite being on the other side.

Also read: Chirag Paswan has reaped what he had sown: JD(U)

The grapevine is now abuzz with the theory that the five LJP MPs, who have submitted a petition to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla informing him about Paras being elected the LJP president as well as the Leader of the LJP Parliamentary Party, may eventually join the JD(U) and further strengthen Nitish, who already has 16 Lok Sabha MPs from Bihar.

This will serve a twin purpose: The JD(U) will numerically have more MPs from this state than the BJP (which has 17 Lok Sabha MPs from Bihar). Secondly, the increased strength in the lower house will give Nitish the much-needed ammunition to drive a hard bargain with the BJP, and possibly seek due representation in the Union Cabinet, too.

The ruling JD(U) has, however, vehemently denied its role in the LJP split. “As you sow, so you reap,” remarked the JD(U) president and a key Nitish aide, RCP Singh.

(Abhay Kumar is a Patna-based independent journalist.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.