Days after rebelling against party chief Chirag Paswan, the LJP faction led by Pashupati Paras said they held a national executive in Patna on Thursday and elected him unopposed as the party's national president. Chirag hit back at the dissidents led by his uncle, saying he was still the party president as the Patna meeting did not have the required quorum of the national executive.

Loyalists of Chirag, son of the late Ram Vilas Paswan, said he had called a national executive in Delhi on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, leaders of the group led by Hajipur MP Paras said that a national executive was held at the home of former MP Suraj Bhan Singh, who was made the party's working president after the rebels ousted Chirag as party chief on Tuesday. They said no other contender filed nomination papers till 3 pm, and Paras was therefore elected unopposed.

In Patna, Paras told reporters, “Under my leadership [Bihar unit chief], the Lok Sabha elections were fought, and we won 6 out of 6 MPs... Then what happened that Chirag removed me as party president. He had no authority to do that... That is the main reason for differences. The second reason is we wanted to fight in the NDA. He wanted to fight alone and because of that in Bihar the LJP has gone towards extinction.”

In Delhi, Chirag rejected his uncle's claims of being elected president and said the meeting in Patna was not according to the “party constitution” and lacked quorum. LJP general secretary Abdul Khalique said a national executive will be held in Delhi on Sunday to reiterate Chirag's position as party national president.

(With input from agencies)