Pashupati Kumar Paras.
Credit: PTI Photo
Patna: Former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras on Wednesday maintained that "injustice" was done during Lok Sabha polls to his Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party which chose, nonetheless, to stay with the NDA.
Paras, who had given up his Union cabinet berth after his party was left high and dry in seat-sharing arrangements, was addressing journalists after a meeting of the RLJP, formed as a result of the split he had engineered in late elder brother Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party.
"Although we got a raw deal in the Lok Sabha polls, we did not change our loyalties. We hope BJP president JP Nadda would recognise this and give us a fair deal in Bihar assembly polls due next year," said Paras.
He also said the RLJP would like to contest, on behalf of the NDA, one of the four assembly seats where bypolls would be held as their MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha.
"At our meeting, we resolved to make the RLJP strong and lend its strength to the NDA in the assembly polls, provided we get a respectable share. We will back any formation that gives us due respect," he added.
He, however, flinched when asked whether he was trying to caution the BJP that he might switch over to the INDIA bloc which, in Bihar, comprises RJD, Congress and the Left.
"We are issuing no such threat. We are only demanding the respect that is our due. What will happen in future, only time will tell," said Paras, who came out of late Paswan's shadow months after the latter's death by staging a rebellion that left LJP heir apparent Chirag Paswan isolated in the party.
However, Chirag came back from behind in the recent polls when his party Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) got five seats to contest, won all of these and the young leader grabbed the Hajipur constituency as well as the Food Processing Industries portfolio, both previously held by Paras.
Paras was also asked about the order of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar to vacate the building where LJP ran its office and which RLJP came to occupy upon the split.
"We have challenged the order of eviction in court," replied the former Union minister.