The Lok Janshakti Party on Monday saw a heavy setback after five of its six MPs in the Lok Sabha rebelled against party head Chirag Paswan.
The revolt was led by Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, who is the younger brother of late LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan. Signs of a split in the party was first seen last year when Paswan publicly chided his uncle Paras.
Four LJP MPs -- Chandan Singh, Veena Devi, Mehboob Ali Kaiser and Prince Raj -- supported Paras as the leader of the party's parliamentary board leaving Chirag Paswan the party’s national president isolated.
Paras will now be the leader of the party in Lok Sabha.
The revolution of the Hajipur MPs has left Chirag Paswan alone as an MP in the party and the other five MPs have asked the Lok Sabha speaker to give them identification of a separate group.
Just days after Ram Vilas Paswan death on October 8 last year and weeks before the November Bihar election, Mr Paras comments lauding Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had angered Chirag Paswan.
As per reports, Chirag had warned his uncle of dismissal from the office and stated: "You are not my blood."
"Your uncle is dead to you from now,” replied Chirag’s uncle Paras.
Since then Uncle and nephew have not been on talking terms.
Sources say that Mr Paras was against his nephew’s determination to contest Bihar polls separately from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and plot candidates against deserted ally Nitish Kumar.
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Mr Paras also felt sidelined when Chirag Paswan did consult him about the party’s candidate, sources close to Mr Paras said.
In the November Bihar elections, the only success LJP could get was a cut in votes in support of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United (JDU), which finished third and was decreased to junior partner in the NDA.
The LJP could acquire only 1 seat out of 243 seats in the assembly.
The frustration in the party intensified after the election failure and LJP leaders saw Chirag Paswan as stubborn, arrogant and difficult.
Sources have said that many from the party and in politics saw Chirag’s work style closer to his father Ram Vilas Paswan's style of working.
Mr Paras, a first-time MP from Hajipur was promised a position in the central cabinet but was denied leading to a crisis in the party.
Nitish Kumar had already been working on the rest of the LJP MPs with the help of a party leader and related to the Paswans - Maheshwar Hazari.
Lalan Singh, a close ally, has been kept out of reach in Delhi.
The dissenters, including Chirag Paswan's cousin Prince Raj - the son of another uncle -- Chandan Singh, Veena Devi and Mehboob Ali Kaiser, finally decided to pursue Mr Paras.
Another deep blow for Chiraj was abandonment by his cousin Prince Raj, who had been appointed the LJP's Bihar president.