LJP president Chirag Paswan has been accused of maintaining links with Maoists by a leader who was recently expelled from the party for indiscipline. The allegation has come from Keshav Singh, a former Bihar unit general secretary of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), who was expelled last week after he issued a number of statements in the media criticising Paswan for pulling out of the NDA and going solo in the recently held Assembly election.
Singh lodged a complaint at the Shastri Nagar police station here on Sunday, alleging that he had received a threatening telephone call from Amar Azad, a close aide of Paswan, after he opened a front against the LJP leadership and flagged the alleged lack of internal democracy. In his FIR, Singh also alleged that Paswan, who represents Jamui in the Lok Sabha, named after a Naxal-hit district of Bihar, has maintained "close links" with Maoists.
He also claimed that in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when the son of late Ram Vilas Paswan made his political debut, the help of Maoists was taken to ensure the victory of the young leader. The LJP had fought the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 as well as 2019 as a junior partner of the BJP-led NDA and, riding the Modi wave, came out with stellar performances on both occasions.
Police that said the allegations made against Chirag Paswan are "under investigation". Meanwhile, reacting to the complaint lodged by the expelled leader, Azad admitted that he had called up Singh "as a party colleague, in an attempt to make him see reason, but gave up when he appeared adamant".
"Nonetheless, he has tried to tarnish my reputation as well as that of our national president. Both of us are Dalits.I will sue him for defamation and also invoke the SC/ST Act. I am seeking legal opinion," Azad told reporters.
The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, was enacted to prevent the commission of offences of atrocities against the members of SCs and STs. Azad unsuccessfully contested from Bochaha constituency in the assembly elections.
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