Power Struggle Continues: Pashupati Paras Ordered to Vacate 1 Wheeler Road Office

Patna: Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) President Pashupati Kumar Paras has been given a seven-day deadline by the Building Construction Department to vacate the government bungalow currently housing his party’s office.

The department’s junior engineer, Milton Chaudhary, delivered the notice at the property, warning that if the office at residence number 1 Wheeler Road (Shaheed Peer Ali Khan Marg) is not vacated within the stipulated period, it will be forcibly cleared with the involvement of a magistrate. The bungalow has now been allotted to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) faction led by Union Minister Chirag Paswan.

According to Sanjay Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary of the Building Construction Department, a letter dated October 22 requested that the property, originally allotted to the Lok Janshakti Party in 2006, be vacated following the RLJP’s failure to comply with a previous 15-day notice issued earlier this year. The department clarified that the bungalow was designated for the Lok Janshakti Party, not the RLJP, and emphasized that the matter is not under any stay order from the High Court.

Despite the October 21 deadline having passed, the RLJP has continued to occupy the property. The Building Construction Department issued a formal reminder on September 28, stating that the RLJP’s allocation for the bungalow had been canceled, and reiterating the requirement to vacate the premises. The bungalow has served as the LJP’s office since its allocation in 2006 under the leadership of the late Ram Vilas Paswan.

The Lok Janshakti Party split in June 2021, with five of its MPs, including Pashupati Paras, electing him as their leader and removing Chirag Paswan from the party’s presidency. This division came months after the Bihar Assembly Elections of 2020 and shortly after the passing of Ram Vilas Paswan. In the aftermath, Paras secured a position as a Union Minister, sidelining Chirag from both state and central power.

The dispute over the bungalow has continued even as Chirag’s political fortunes rebounded with his resurgence in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a power struggle between Paras and Chirag over the Hajipur seat kept it in the spotlight. Following intervention by Prime Minister Modi, Chirag secured the Hajipur seat, winning decisively and subsequently claiming five seats under the NDA banner, including Vaishali, Samastipur, Khagaria, and Jamui.

The upcoming deadline for Paras to vacate the 1 Wheeler Road bungalow highlights the broader power shift in Bihar politics between the two factions.