The explosions and implosions of Bihar's Lok Janshakti Party within a year of the death of party patriarch Ram Vilas Paswan can be taken as progression of a known trend of Indian politics: The intra-party feud amongst ambitious family members over the game of thrones. The developments can be viewed as a pointer to the ways in which regional satraps within the NDA fold are making moves to break free. 

In a late night strike on Sunday, the late Paswan's brother Pashupati Nath Paras signed a document virtually evicting the party founder's son and current president Chirag Paswan. In a letter signed by five of the six LJP MPs and submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the group has sought recognition as an independent unit with Paras as the parliamentary party leader. 

Immediate provocation for the LJP war appears to relate to the competition between Paras and Chirag over filling up the vacancy of Ram Vilas Paswan in the Union Cabinet. But the context and range of the tussle is wider. 

Splits and mergers have been intrinsic to the dynamics of regional parties, as has been reflected in the politics of the Samajwadi Party, DMK, TDP or the RJD. 

The family feud component is also pronounced in the LJP developments. But these also need to be seen in the context of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's drive to regain  political strength after his party was relegated to the third spot in the assembly elections last year. While Upendra Kushwaha has already merged his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party with the JDU, speculations have been that Kumar has been encouraging smaller NDA partners such as Jiten Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni to flex their muscles, so as to keep the BJP in check. Rumours had also suggested that in the event of a complete victory for the BJP in West Bengal, the party leadership would have replaced Kumar as the Chief Minister and foisted a senior Muslim leader of the saffron party to the post. With Mamata Banerjee having thrown a cold towel on the BJP ambitions, Kumar possibly feels the time is ripe to hit back. 

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