Ram Vilas Paswan

"My father sought an appointment and waited for more than three months but Rahul Gandhi did not relent," said Chirag Paswan, who at that time too was keen to leave the UPA and join the NDA.

The process of moving furniture and household goods from the bungalow in Janpath in Lutyens’ Delhi started shortly after a team from the Directorate of Estates, which comes under the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, reached the property, official sources said.

Padma Awards: Former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was also honoured with the Padma Bhushan by President Ram Nath Kovind.

An official in the ministry said that the bungalow is earmarked for Union ministers and the occupants of the government accommodation have been asked to vacate it.

The loss of five party MPs, who have vouched to rejoin NDA under Nitish Kumar, has put a big question mark on the political career of the 38-year-old Chirag Paswan, who switched to politics from Bollywood in 2013

With Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) unlikely to help the Lok Janshakti Party following the heated battle in the recent assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party could bag late union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Rajya Sabha seat.

Yet, many leaders have been out of sight during the campaigning in the run up to the three-phase assembly elections. Moneycontrol lists a few of the prominent leaders whose presence on ground, many say, would have made a difference

Ram Vilas Paswan's daughter Asha Devi and her husband Anil Sadhu protested in front of the car of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi when he had come to receive the body of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) founder.

Currently, Goyal is the Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce and Industry.

It will also be interesting to see how BJP will treat Chirag Paswan after his father’s death, especially when he has walked out of NDA and has been critical of Nitish Kumar, the NDA's chief ministerial face.

Born in 1946 to a Dalit family in Shaharbanni village near Khagaria district of eastern Bihar, Paswan was active in politics for nearly five decades and will be remembered as one of country's prominent Dalit leaders.

Ram Vilas Paswan formed the Lok Janshakti Party in 2000 after a split in the Janata Dal over the issue of joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had undergone a heart surgery, his son Chirag Paswan said on October 4.

LJP president Chirag Paswan has been lauding the BJP leadership, indicating that his party will not put up candidates against the saffron party even as it considers contesting on constituencies which will fall in the JD(U)'s quota.

Paswan further said the online system of audit will facilitate expeditious disposal of complaints regarding malpractices in the hallmarking of jewellery items.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the government's nodal agency that frames quality standards in coordination with the concerned ministries.

The Centre, in November last year, had announced that hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts would be made mandatory across the country from January 15, 2021.

The GoM directed the Food Ministry to move a Cabinet note with a proposal to hike the MSP of sugar as recommended by the Niti Aayog, the sources said.

Against the target of 8 crore migrant labourers, Paswan said free ration has reached to only 2.32 crore migrant workers in May, while 2.14 crore in June, he said.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), announced as part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package to help those affected due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, was earlier valid for a three-month period from April to June. The same has been extended for five months till November.