Tejashwi Yadav reaches out to Chirag Paswan, tells him to join Bihar opposition

New Delhi, June 27

Amid signs of chill in LJP leader Chirag Paswan’s ties with the BJP-led NDA, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday reached out to him for aligning with the opposition, saying he could carry forward his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy only by joining the “existential fight” against RSS ideologue MS Golwalkar’s thoughts.

With Chirag going public with his disappointment with the BJP’s silence over his bitter feud with his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras for control of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the BJP has “disposed of” and “abandoned” most of its old allies after coming to power and gaining maximum from them.

Yadav said his party had always stood by Ram Vilas Paswan and recounted that when the LJP did not even have a single MLA and Paswan lost the election in 2009, it was Lalu Prasad Yadav who sent him to the Rajya Sabha from the Rashtriya Janata Dal quota.

Has anybody done or sacrificed so much for any other leader or party in the country, he asked.

“Our party has decided to celebrate Dalit messiah, Ram Vilas Ji’s birth anniversary to commemorate his contribution to the state, I think this itself is self-explanatory,” Yadav said.

Significantly, Chirag has also announced an “aashirvaad yatra” from July 5, the birth anniversary of his father and party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, from Hajipur in Bihar.

Asked about his call last week urging Chirag to quit the NDA, Yadav said the country was at a juncture where pro-Constitution, pro-democracy, pro-farmers and pro-people forces were on one side and those antithetical to this ideology on the other.

“Late Ram Vilas Paswan Ji was a socialist and a firm believer in the idea of social justice throughout his life. He fought caste supremacy, poverty and inequality during his political journey,” the 31-year-old leader said. — PTI