Chirag Paswan takes a swipe at Rahul Gandhi: 'His rallies helping us in Bihar'

Union Minister Chirag Paswan at News18 Rising Bharat Summit

Union Minister Chirag Paswan on Wednesday said that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is only helping the BJP-led NDA with his poll rallies in poll-bound Bihar.

"He (Rahul Gandhi) only helps us with his rallies..." Paswan said at the News18 Rising Bharat Summit.

On Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar accompanying Gandhi on his rallies, Paswan said: "Nothing can be above national interest, no matter how much they practice politics of divide, communalism, but when it comes to the nation, nothing should be above it..."

"I think every India should think that a person who lives in the country and does politics of division, who lives in the country and thinks of dividing India, should anyone join such a person?" he added.

"We are talking about the LoP Lok Sabha. He is standing with someone who raised slogans to divide India. This is not right..." the minister remarked.

Addressing the 'Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan' (Save the Constitution symposium) in Patna on Monday, Gandhi had asserted that the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar will work for the uplift of Dalits, women and economically backward classes (EBCs).

Gandhi did not address the public in Begusarai, which is also the home state of the party's youth wing national in charge Kanhaiya Kumar.

The former Congress president, however, was joined there by thousands of young supporters, many of them wearing white T-shirts like the leader has been doing since the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” a couple of years ago.

Union minister Giriraj Singh, who represents Begusarai in the Lok Sabha, appeared miffed at the Leader of the Opposition’s presence in the town.

Last month, Paswan predicted that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, two major allies of the opposition grand alliance in Bihar, will contest the upcoming assembly elections separately.