My father and Lalu ji were close friends…Tejashwi is my younger brother: Chirag Paswan

Days after Tejashwi Yadav invited him to enter into a coalition with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar, Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan said the RJD leader was like his younger brother and a decision on a possible alliance between the two parties will be taken at a time when there will be elections in the state.

“My father (Ram Vilas Paswan) and Lalu ji (Tejashwi’s father) have always been close friends. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and I know each other since childhood, we’d a close friendship, he is my younger brother. When election time will come in Bihar then the party will take a final call on the alliance,” said Chirag, who is also an MP from Jamui.

My father & Lalu ji have always been close friends. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav & I know each other since childhood, we’d a close friendship, he is my younger brother. When election time will come in Bihar then the party will take a final call on the alliance: Chirag Paswan

— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2021

Pointing out that it was him who stood with the BJP and not Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose party JD(U) won the assembly elections in 2020 with support from the BJP, the LJP leader said: “I stood with BJP on each step, including on matters of CAA, NRC. However, Nitish ji disagreed with the same. Now it is for the BJP to decide whether they will support me or Nitish Kumar in the coming days.”

The LJP leader, who has given out clear hints of his disenchantment with the BJP, is now trying to regain lost political ground by launching his Bihar yatra from Hajipur — Ram Vilas Paswan’s turf and rebel uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras’ Lok Sabha constituency — from July 5, his father’s birth anniversary.

On Wednesday, Tejashwi had called upon Chirag to join him reminding him how Lalu Prasad had helped Ram Vilas Paswan get nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2010 when LJP had no MP or MLAs. Tejashwi, who returned to Patna from Delhi on Wednesday, said, “It is Chirag who has to decide if he would continue to live with followers of Guru Golwalkar’s ‘Bunch of Thoughts’ or with followers of BR Ambedkar, the maker of the Indian Constitution.”

Without naming JD(U), Tejashwi took a swipe at Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. “There are people who are good at scheming. These people also feign ignorance about political happenings in the state,” he said.