Union Minister Chirag Paswan. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJP-RV) national president and Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Chirag Paswan on Monday (August 31, 2026) responded to allegations against his party’s MLA from Mahua and Minister of the Bihar Public Health Engineering Department, Sanjay Kumar Singh. Mr. Paswan’s statement came a day after Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) leader Tej Pratap Yadav demanded an investigation into the allegations against the Minister.
If the allegations against Mr. Singh were found to be true, Mr. Paswan said he would expel Mr. Singh from the LJP(RV) and the “strictest action” would be taken against him. The allegations are “very serious”, and the party had sought an explanation from Mr. Singh, Mr. Paswan said.
Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav, the estranged older son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad, had earlier posted about an incident allegedly linked to Mr. Singh on social media platform X. Questions were being raised about the conduct of Mr. Singh, who allegedly behaved indecently with a young woman and attempted to exploit her in a Delhi hotel, and the incident was allegedly “hushed up” with a payment of about ₹25 lakh, Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav said.
Mr. Paswan addressed media persons at his residence in Patna. “The way one leader of a different political party has levelled allegations against my MLA, who is also a Minister in the Bihar government, is really serious. The allegations are very serious, and I will never protect such people, even though he [Mr. Singh] is a member of my family. The party has sought an explanation from him,” Mr. Paswan said.
“I will request the woman to come forward with the evidence, and also the hotel management where the alleged incident has taken place. I demand that the Bihar government should also conduct an investigation, and whoever is guilty, even people from my party and my family, take strict action against the individual responsible. The image of Bihar is being tarnished. If my people are found guilty, he [Mr. Singh] will be expelled from the party,” the LJP(RV) leader said.
Mr. Singh, via his advocate Sushil Kumar, has sent a legal notice to Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav, seeking an unconditional apology and ₹50 crore in damages for making false and defamatory allegations against him on social media, asking for a response within seven days.
The notice states Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav has not disclosed the identity of any complainant, victim, witness, hotel, date, complaint, First Information Report, or other material whatsoever. “The entire narrative is a fabrication, dressed up as ‘questions being raised’, and the demand for an inquiry is a mere device to lend a colour of legitimacy to a calculated character assassination,” the 11-page notice stated.
“[In case of] your failure to comply with the demands within 7 days from the receipt of this notice, my client will be constrained to initiate appropriate criminal proceedings for defamation and other allied offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and the Information Technology Act, 2000,” it added.
“I don’t care about Sanjay Singh’s legal notice,” Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav told media persons at Patna airport on Monday (August 31, 2026).
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is committed to allaying the “fears of the upper castes”, Mr. Paswan said, by ensuring that protecting the interests of the deprived classes did not result in “exploitation of other social groups”, Mr. Paswan said.
“While safeguarding the concerns of one caste, the interests of other sections of society can also be protected. Wherever I will protect the rights and interests of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, I will also strongly raise the voice of people from the General Category and upper castes there,” the Union Minister said.
Published – August 31, 2026 10:40 pm IST
