Chirag Paswan: Rahul’s snub pushed us to join BJP in 2014

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan. File pic

Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan says Rahul Gandhi's refusal to meet his father despite months of trying was a key reason for Ram Vilas Paswan leaving the Congress-led UPA and allying with the BJP just before the 2014 elections.

Asked about his opinion of Rahul Gandhi, Chirag Paswan told PTI editors in an interaction at the agency's headquarters that the Congress leader has of late begun taking his responsibility a bit more seriously and criticised his recent speech in Parliament as unbecoming of the leader of opposition.

Chirag Paswan then recalled that he and his father had often met Sonia Gandhi to discuss the future of their party in the UPA alliance. Sonia Gandhi suggested that Ram Vilas Paswan meet her son. The senior Paswan 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.

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