Lok Janshakti Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | LJP |
| Founder | Ram Vilas Paswan |
| Founded | 28 November 2000 (24 years ago) (2000-11-28) |
| Dissolved | 5 October 2021 (4 years ago) (2021-10-05) |
| Split from | Janata Dal |
| Succeeded by | |
| Headquarters | 12,Janpath,New Delhi,India – 110011 |
| Political position | Centre |
| Colours | Blue,red andgreen |
| ECI Status | State Party |
| Alliance | National Democratic Alliance(2000—2003, 2014-2021) United Progressive Alliance(2004-14) Fourth Front (2009) |
| Party flag | |
 | |
TheLok Janshakti Party (LJP,lit. 'People's Manpower Party')[1] was a statepolitical party mainly based in the state ofBihar,India. The party was formed in 2000 whenRam Vilas Paswan split fromJanata Dal. The party had a considerable following amongstDalits in Bihar. The party has split into two parties:Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party[2][3][4] andLok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).[5][6]
In 2000, lateRam Vilas Paswan formed the Lok Janshakti Party as its president. Along with Paswan, his brother,Ram Chandra Paswan, Capt.Jai Narain Prasad Nishad andRamesh Jigajinagi also joined the party.[7][8][9]
LJP contested the polls in alliance with theIndian National Congress and theRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and won four Lok Sabha seats. Ram Vilas Paswan remained a Union Minister inMinistry of Chemicals and Fertilizers andMinistry of Steel.
In the2005 Bihar assembly polls held in February, the party contested in alliance with the Congress and against the RJD and won 29 assembly seats.[10] However no alliance could secure majority and the party refused to support any alliance to form the Government. There were rumours that certain party MLAs were ready to defect toJanata Dal (United) (JD(U)) allowing the formation of an NDA Government. In a controversial episode,President's rule was imposed in the State and after a few months Bihar's state assembly was dissolved. Elections were again held inOctober 2005 in whichNDA came to power with a thumping majority withNitish Kumar as the Chief Minister. The LPJ had fielded its candidates in 203 constituencies but could only win 10 seats.[10][11][12]
The party contested the2009 Lok Sabha General elections in an alliance called theFourth Front, which constituted theRashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and theSamajwadi Party. This move proved to be disastrous, since LJP couldn't win a single seat, and RJD were reduced to 4 seats in theLok Sabha. After the electionLaloo Prasad Yadav, admitted that it was a mistake to leave the UPA, and gave unconditional support toManmohan Singh and the newly formed UPA government.
Jan Morcha, the party founded by former Prime MinisterVishwanath Pratap Singh, merged with the LJP in March 2009.Jan Morcha presidentAjeya Pratap Singh, son ofVishwanath Pratap Singh, was immediately appointed a senior LJP functionary.[13]
On the more disastrous side LJP suffered a major jolt when its entireJharkhand unit merged with Congress before the 2009 elections, complaining that Paswan had ignored them. Paswan then announced the dissolution of the party's Jharkhand Unit.[14]
In2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, the party had contested in an alliance withRashtriya Janata Dal. However party could secure only 6.75% votes winning only 3 seats which was 7 less than the previous elections in 2006.
In August 2011, there were claims made by the Speaker of theBihar Legislative Assembly that the party had merged withJD(U) as 2 of the 3 MLAs of the party had joinedJD(U). However the party had denied any such move.[15]
On 27 February 2014, Lok Janshakti Party officially announced it re-entering theNational Democratic Alliance led byBharatiya Janata Party, after a gap of 12 years.[16] It contested 7 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar in the2014 Indian general election.
LJP won 6 of the 7 seats it contested includingRam Vilas Paswan and his sonChirag Paswan.Ram Vilas Paswan resigned from hisRajya Sabha seat. He was also made Minister for Food and Civil Supplies in the NDA government that came to power on 26 May 2014.
In the2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, the party contested in an alliance withBJP-ledNational Democratic Alliance. It contested 40 seats out of 243 in the assembly. It won only two seats, one less than the last election in 2010.
In 2017,Pashupati Paras brother of Ram Vilas was inducted intoNitish Kumar cabinet as Minister of Animal & Fish Resources afterJanata Dal (United) joinedBJP-ledNational Democratic Alliance.
After the entry of Lok Janshakti Party in National Democratic Alliance in 2014, the NDA's principal parties in Bihar namely LJP,Bharatiya Janata Party andRashtriya Lok Samta Party had contested against the JD(U) –Rashtriya Janata Dal-Indian National Congress Mahagathbandhan alliance in 2015 and further until2020 Bihar Assembly Election. On the question of seat sharing for the 2020 Assembly elections, the LJP under the presidency ofChirag Paswan decided to quit NDA and fight on 143 Assembly seats alone.[17] This turned out to be the single most important reason for the poor electoral performance of JD(U) led by Nitish Kumar.[18] The Quint reported, if LJP would have formed a pre poll alliance with BJP,National Democratic Alliance would have won additional 38 seats.[19]
The parliamentary committee of LJP however decided to support BJP in and outside the state with the number of seats they win in the state while contesting solely. The move as per party leadership was to oppose JD(U) while allying with the BJP. The way for the party was not easy as it was to face a number of coalitions and political parties which were contesting the elections with their support bases.[20]
The series of dramatic events came months after the Bihar Assembly elections in October–November last year, in the run-up to which Chirag Paswan had attacked the JD(U) and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and stepped out of the NDA, all along maintaining that he wanted to work with the BJP. The LJP had, however, fared poorly in the elections, with its lone MLA eventually crossing over to the JD(U).
The crisis started whenPashupati Kumar Paras took 4 MPs of the party along with him and named himself as the party president.[21] ThenChirag Paswan called a national executive meeting and removed the five rebel MPs from the party's primary membership.[22][23]
The five MPs namedPashupati Kumar Paras (Hajipur),Mehboob Ali Qaisar (Khagaria),Chandan Singh (Nawada),Veena Devi (Vaishali) andPrince Raj (Samastipur) met Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla next day saying that they have elected Paras as LJP parliamentary party leader and Kaiser as deputy leader. Later that night, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a circular confirming Paras as leader of the LJP in the Lok Sabha.[24]
In his first reaction after his uncle Pashupati Paras ousted him, Paswan likened the organization to a mother who should not bebetrayed. In a tweet, he said he made efforts to keep the party founded by his fatherRam Vilas Paswan and his family together but failed.[25]
ECI froze the Lok Janshakti Party name & SymbolBungalow[26] and allottedLok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led byChirag Paswan andRashtriya Lok Janshakti Party led byPashupati Kumar Paras.[27]
People are supreme in a democracy, Paswan said and thanked those who have kept faith in the party.Paswan also shared a letter he had written to Paras, the youngest brother of his father, in March in which he had highlighted his uncle's unhappiness over a number of issues, including his elevation as the party president.
| Year | Legislature | Seats contested | Seats won | Change in seats | Percentage of votes | Vote swing | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 14th Lok Sabha | 4 / 543 |  4 | Government | |||
| 2009 | 15th Lok Sabha | 0 / 543 |  4 | None | |||
| 2014 | 16th Lok Sabha | 6 / 543 | 6 | Government | |||
| 2019 | 17th Lok Sabha | 6 / 543 | – | Government |
