An audio clip of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan has leaked and gone viral. The son of former Union minister and LJP founder late Ram Vilas Paswan is heard speaking to Youth Wing leader Sanjeev Sardar about organising a protest. The party has not yet confirmed the authenticity of the audio clip.
Earlier this week, the popular leader of LJP Chirag Paswan faced a coup by a group of five of his Lok Sabha MPs, including his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras and cousin brother Prince Raj. The five MPs removed Chirag Paswan as the leader of LJP and replaced him with Paras during an emergency meeting on Tuesday.
In the alleged audio clip, Paswan is heard asking Sardar to organise a massive protest at the LJP office and the airport when Pashupati Kumar arrives at Patna on Wednesday. Sardar was instructed to make sure that Paras does not enter the party office. He is heard replying that a protest can be arranged with the youth from the Dalit hostels in Patna.
The Paswan community forms 6% of Bihar and seems to back Chirag over Paras. Previous surveys have shown that the Dalit community finds Paswan's politics impressive.
Chirag Paswan said that he would not surrender the title of President and called himself the son of a lion. He held a discussion with his uncle to reconcile the differences and offered to name his mother President. However, the offer was rejected.
On Thursday, Pashupati Paras announced that he would be joining the union government soon and resign from the post of party leader.
Chirag Paswan said that his uncle Paras and cousin have betrayed him. He added that Paras served as an advisor and "left him feeling orphaned". Following the coup, Chirag called a virtual national executive meeting and sacked the five MPs from the party for anti-party activities.