The Lok Janshakti Party witnessed a massive setback on Monday after five out of its six MPs in the Lok Sabha revolted against party chief Chirag Paswan.

The rebellion was led by Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, who is the younger brother of late LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan. Four LJP MPs -- Chandan Singh, Veena Devi, Mehboob Ali Kaiser and Prince Raj -- backed Paras as the leader of party's parliamentary board, leaving party national president Chirag Paswan isolated. Paras will now be the leader of the party in Lok Sabha.

Beginning of rebellion in LJP

Chirag Paswan took the reign of the party following the demise of his father, Ram Vilas Paswan, in October 2020. In one of his first decisions as party chief, Chirag unilaterally decided to part ways with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and contest alone in the Bihar Assembly polls.

According to sources, this decision was vehemently objected to by other party MPs, but due to the death of Ram Vilas Paswan during the election, they could not openly oppose the new chief.

Under the leadership of Chirag Paswan, the LJP fought the Bihar elections alone and contested 134 seats, but it managed to win only a single seat. However, it caused significant damage to Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), reducing its tally from 71 to 43 seats.