Ram Vilas Paswan: From Modi baiter to Modi ministry

Posted on 27th May 2014 10:35 pm by admin

Patna, May 26 (IANS) A dozen years after he attacked then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots and quit the NDA, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan Monday joined the cabinet in a Modi-led central government.<br /><br />A Dalit leader, Paswan and RJD chief Lalu Prasad were widely seen as potential Congress allies in the Lok Sabha election. But in February he surprised everyone by aligning with the BJP to contest Lok Sabha polls.<br /><br />Political activist Ashok Kumar Singh, who has known Paswan for four decades, said there was a time when Paswan was attracted to Maoism but he never embraced it.<br /><br />After his graduation and before he completed his law degree, Paswan was all set to become a policeman but did not take up the job. He instead contested the 1969 Bihar assembly polls as the now defunct SSP candidate and won.<br /><br />Paswan won the Lok Sabha polls from Hajipur in 1977 with a margin of 4.24 lakh votes - a record broken only by P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1991.<br /><br />Becaming a union minister for the first time in 1989 in the V.P. Singh government, Paswan emerged as one of the most vocal supporters of the Mandal Commission recommendations.<br /><br />He served as a minister in the United Front governments of H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. Paswan was also a minister in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the UPA-I government of Manmohan Singh.<br /><br />Paswan was defeated in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls but was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2011 with the RJD's support.<br /><br />In 2014, he won from his traditional Hajipur seat, thanks to the Modi wave.<br /><br />His first wife Raj Kumari Devi lives in his native village Shaharbanni in Khagaria district. He later married again. His actor-turned-politician son Chirag Paswan also won the Lok Sabha polls -- from Jamui.<br /><br />One of Paswan's brothers is an MP while another is a former legislator in Bihar.

Other news

Global Investors Summit 2023: PM Modi will inaugurate the Global Investors Summit, and many investors will be involved

PM Modi will inaugurate the Global Investors Summit in Madhya Pradesh. The two-day Global Investo

4 terrorists killed in Jammu: came hiding in a truck, fired during the search, we're going to Kashmir with ammunition

Four terrorists were killed by security forces in the Sidhra area of Jammu on Wednesday morning.

DC vs RR Predicted Playing XI: Will Enrich Norkhia get a chance today? Check out the probable playing XI of Delhi vs Rajasthan match

DC vs RR Predicted Playing XI: In the 34th match of IPL 2022, today Delhi Capitals will face the

Unlock 5.0 set to open Cinemahall from next month; Know how the experience of watching a film is going to change

Movie theaters across the country have been closed since 23 March. Unlock 4.0 guidelines expire o

Distributing 'Revdi' will create the situation in Sri Lanka? Arvind Kejriwal replied

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has responded to the statement of BJP's Gujarat unit chief C

Rohit Sharma's Birthday: Mumbai Indians' teammates congratulate Rohit on completing ten years of captaincy

Rohit Sharma was on Sunday lauded by the five-time IPL champions' players and coaching staff for

Jat leaders meet PM over reservations

New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) A delegation of Jat leaders met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thur

What will happen to the T20 World Cup if the Corona case increases in India? Learn the answer of ICC

Corona is at the peak in India at this time, with the number of infected people arriving daily ha

Weather Update: Chance of rain again in Delhi-NCR today, strong winds will blow, know- weather condition of other states

The weather update is about to take a turn in the capital of the country, Delhi. There is a possi

Is now the only lockdown option? Broken corona records in Delhi, today more than 800 new patients found, active case crosses 3400

The corona epidemic (COVID-19) is seen to be taking place again in Delhi. The number of infected