New Delhi: Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan is likely to represent his Lok Janshakti Party in the Modi government, which will be sworn in on May 30, after the party passed a resolution Tuesday, recommending his name for a ministerial berth.
The LJP's parliamentary board passed a resolution to this effect at a meeting, which was attended by its six newly-elected Lok Sabha MPs, the board's chairman and Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag Paswan told reporters.
Asked about Ram Vilas Paswan's comments suggesting that his son should be inducted in the second Modi government, Chirag Paswan played it down, saying the LJP president might have said it out of "fatherly feelings".
He noted that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's prerogative to decide who will be the ministers in his government, but the LJP would like to be represented by Ram Vilas Paswan.
Chirag Paswan, who has again won from Jamui in Bihar, said he will work to strengthen his party's organisation and asserted that the NDA, which also includes Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), will win over 200 seats in the 243-member state assembly.
Assembly elections in Bihar are due in the latter half of 2020.
Chirag Paswan also took a swipe at former NDA members who switched over to the opposition camp, saying Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi considered themselves as leaders of their communities but could not even win a single seat.
Manjhi claimed to be a leader of mahadalits but failed miserably, he said, while also having a go at the Lalu Prasad-led RJD, the main opposition party in Bihar.
The RJD is on the verge of a split, he claimed, responding to a question about voices of protests from within the party over the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, who has been running the show in the absence of his father Lalu Prasad, who is in jail.
The LJP leader also announced that he will be his party's leader in Lok Sabha and Mehboob Ali Kaiser, the only Muslim Lok Sabha MP in the NDA, will be its deputy leader.
Ram Vilas Paswan is currently not a member of any House and may be brought to Rajya Sabha from Bihar.
The BJP had promised a Rajya sabha seat to him during seat-sharing talks with its Bihar allies.
Modi will be sworn as prime minister for a second term on May 30.
Comments
0 comment