Some leaders’ greed for power has weakened LJP’s movement as voice of deprived: Chirag Paswan

The comment comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday froze Lok Janshakti Party’s symbol amid a tussle between factions of Chirag Pawan and Pashupati Kumar Paras.

“My father started a movement across the country to raise the voice of the deprived in society. LJP became the voice of the movement. But the movement weakened after some party leaders got trapped in the greed of power,” Paswan tweeted in Hindi.

“This is an interim decision of the Commission. They have given thought to our arguments,” he added.

The ECI issued a statement saying that “neither of the two groups of Paswan or Chirag will be permitted to use the symbol of LJP”.

The Commission further directed both the groups to choose, as an interim measure, the names of their groups and the “symbols which may be allotted to the candidates set up, if any, by the respective groups,” latest by October 4.

The LJP is a recognised party in Bihar with the symbol ‘Bungalow’.

Both Chirag Paswan and newly-elected LJP national president Pashupati Kumar Paras, earlier in June, had written to the Election Commission over the right on the party symbol, sources had said.

On June 13, Paras, the younger brother of LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan was recognised as the leader of LJP in Lok Sabha in place of Chirag Paswan after five of the six-party MPs gave a letter in his support.

The Speaker accepted Paras as the floor leader of the LJP in the lower house. In a revised list of floor leaders of parties, Paras was listed as the Lok Sabha LJP leader.

The LJP was formed by former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in 2000. Paswan, a heavyweight leader in Bihar politics, passed away in October 2020.