Pashupati Paras, president of Rashtriya Lok Jan Shakti Party and Union minister, tendered his resignation from the Modi Cabinet on Tuesday. This comes a day after the Bhartiya Janata Party left him out of the NDA seat-sharing deal. On Monday, the National Democratic Alliance finalised its seat-sharing deal in Bihar, giving 17 seats to the BJP, 16 to the Janata Dal-United JD(U) and five to Chirag Paswan’s Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas). Pashupati's RLJP, a key partner in the Modi government at the Centre, was not offered any seat.
Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha, two other allies of NDA, were given one seat each to contest in the Lok Sabha elections. "The BJP will contest 17 out of the total 40 seats and the JD(U) will contest 16. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest five seats," Vinod Tawde, the BJP’s in-charge for elections in Bihar, said during the press conference at the BJP headquarters.
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Paras has served as the Minister of Food Processing Industries in the Modi government since 2021. He is also a member of Lok Sabha from Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency since 2019. Historically, the Hajipur seat, which will be now contested by Chirag Paswan, has been associated with Ram Vilas Paswan.
In his first reaction after his resignation as Union Minister, the RLJP chief said injustice had been done with his party during the NDA seat-sharing deal in Bihar. "Yesterday, the NDA alliance announced the list of 40 candidates for Bihar Lok Sabha...Our party had five MPs & I worked with utmost sincerity...Injustice has been done with us & our party. Therefore, I resign from the post of Union Minister," he said as quoted by news agency ANI.