Union minister Pashupati Paras meets BJP chief Nadda

Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) chief Pashupati Kumar Paras on Thursday met BJP president J P Nadda here to push his party’s claims ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Paras was accompanied by three other Lok Sabha MPs of his party. The RLJP leaders discussed the ruling NDA’s strategy for the polls in Bihar among other issues, the party said in a statement.

The Paras-led party is involved in a bitter war of words with Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by his nephew and Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan as both fight for the legacy of Paswan’s father and Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan.

Chirag Paswan, also a BJP ally, has stressed that his party would like to contest on six seats in the parliamentary polls, the same number the Lok Janshakti Party had contested in 2019 when he and Paras were together under Ram Vilas Paswan’s leadership.

Chirag Paswan has also staked claim on Hajipur, a constituency currently represented by Paras in Lok Sabha.

The BJP wants both factions to join hands but they have ruled out any compromise.