Union Minister Pashupati Paras Demands Reconducting Bihar Caste Census Amid His Party RLJP Facing Potential Split

Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, Pashupati Paras, questioned the Bihar caste survey amid weakening stance of his party Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP).

He said that the survey team did not even visit his home and suggested that the state government should conduct the census again to avoid discrepancies because reservation is being provided based on the same survey.

While appreciating the reservations provided by the government, the minister also alleged that the communities that voted against the incumbent government in the survey have been reported as having fewer numbers.

These remarks were made during 'Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat' campaign held at the Daulatpur Devariya Panchayat Bhavan in Hajipur on Thursday (30 November).

The minister explained that the goal of this campaign is to cover more than 2.55 lakh gram panchayats and over 3,600 urban local bodies passing through every district of the country by 25 January 2024.

Specially designed Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) vans will visit villages to ensure that people deprived of the government's welfare schemes receive complete information and can benefit from them.

Distribution of bank passbooks during the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana at the post office was done by Pashupati Paras.

These events followed Paras dissolving the RLJP parliamentary board after Vaishali MP Veena Devi, a member of this board, left his party to join Chirag Paswan's faction LJP (Ram Vilas).

While Paras said that a new board will be formed with a fresh approach, considering the preparation for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Jagran sources have mentioned that Paras made this decision in an attempt to save the split happening within the party.

It is also reported that many leaders of the RLJP are in a dilemma regarding staying in the party. A significant part of them is in the mood for the integration of both groups of RLJP and appointing Chirag as the leader.

LJP was divided in 2021. At that time, out of the six MPs of the party, five went with Pashupati Paras, while Chirag Paswan remained alone. However, seeing Chirag's strong hold among party supporters, many MPs feel that staying with Paras will only lead to losses.

At this time, Prince Raj, Chandan Singh, and Chaudhary Mahboob Ali Kaisar are in Paras's group. It is said that Kaisar also does not consider RLJP suitable for himself.