Pashupati Paras steps down from union cabinet, quits NDA

Pashupati Kumar Paras, who previously served as the Minister of Food Processing Industries in the Union cabinet, announced his resignation from the cabinet and severed ties with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Tuesday. 

The decision came as a result of his dissatisfaction with the BJP leadership's approach to seat-sharing in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Paras, a leader of the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP), expressed concerns that his party's interests were not adequately taken into account during the seat-sharing discussions and urged the BJP leadership to reconsider their stance.

The NDA finalised its seat-sharing arrangement for the Bihar Lok Sabha elections, revealing that the BJP would contest in 17 constituencies, the JD(U) in 16, and Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas) in five. Raju Tiwari, the Bihar LJP (Ram Vilas) chief, disclosed that Chirag Paswan would be the candidate for the Hajipur Lok Sabha seat, which was allocated to the LJP as per the agreed seat-sharing arrangement for the 2024 polls.