Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan with Union Minister and party chief Ram Vilas Paswan(File/PTI Photo) Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan with Union Minister and party chief Ram Vilas Paswan(File/PTI Photo)

Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan Wednesday said there was a “definite change” in Congress president Rahul Gandhi and that he should be credited with the party’s victory in the recent state assembly elections.

“Congress party has won after a long time. You’ll have to give it to him. If you criticise someone, you should also appreciate them when they perform well. They chose issues well,” ANI quoted Paswan as saying. Paswan said while Congress raised issues of farmers and unemployment, “we stayed tangled in religion and temples”.

The LJP is part of the NDA in Bihar. Amid growing chorus on bringing legislation for building a Ram temple at the disputed Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya, Paswan said the government should “focus once again solely on development in the time to come”.

Just days ago, Paswan distanced the party from the Ram Temple issue, saying it could be an agenda for only a party and not the NDA or the Central government.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Paswan said: “We have clearly said in the NDA meeting on December 10 that we should stick to our development agenda. Some people raising issues like the Ram temple (construction) and Bajrangbali (UP CM Yogi Adityanath had called Lord Hanuman a Dalit) only confuses people. The temple can be the agenda of one party but not of the NDA or government. Let us wait for the court’s order on it.”

On Wednesday, the LJP pressed for finalisation of the coalition’s seat-sharing arrangement in Bihar by month-end and made it clear that the party would not settle for anything less than six Lok Sabha seats and one in Rajya Sabha, reported PTI.

The assertion was made by LJP’s state president Pashupati Kumar Paras, younger brother of party chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, a day after Paswan expressed dissatisfaction over no headway being made over the seat-sharing issue despite several meetings with BJP leaders.

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