Chirag Paswan invited to Union Budget session meeting but won't attend due to health reasons, says LJP

  New Delhi: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Chirag Paswan is among the leaders invited to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting to discuss the ruling bloc’s agenda for the Budget session of Parliament, party sources said. However, Paswan will not be attending the meeting due to health reasons, they said, adding that he also skipped the all-party meet. The invite to Paswan from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi to the meeting of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies assumes significance as it comes in the backdrop of the LJP walking out of the NDA in Bihar due to its opposition to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and contesting the state Assembly polls on its own. Though the LJP could win only one seat in the Bihar polls, it inflicted serious damage on the JD(U), the tally of which fell to 43 from 71, triggering a backlash from Kumar’s party, with some of its leaders questioning if Paswan could still be in the NDA at the Centre. A vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Paswan has maintained that he remains an ally of the BJP at the Centre. Senior leaders of the saffron party had also criticised him for fielding candidates against the JD(U) in the Bihar polls. The invite to Paswan for the NDA meeting indicates that the BJP, which has lost a few key allies, continues to see the LJP, which was founded by towering Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan, as a partner.