‘Greed for power’: Tejashwi counters Chirag Paswan’s ‘no Muslim CM’ charge; questions his ‘vision’ | India News

NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday launched a sharp attack on Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan, accusing him of “greed for power” and alleging that he has compromised his political stand for a share in the ruling alliance.Responding to Paswan’s recent comments on his late father Ram Vilas Paswan’s wish to see a Muslim chief minister in Bihar in 2005, Yadav said, “It doesn’t matter what he says or does not say. What’s his vision?” He added that Paswan was “feeling uncomfortable” in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).“NDA people had set fire to Chirag’s family,” Yadav said, referring to the rift between Chirag and his uncle, Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) chief Pashupati Kumar Paras, that split the LJP after Ram Vilas Paswan’s death. “Chirag is with NDA in greed for power. Chirag compromises for power. That is why his statements are not considered important,” the RJD leader added.Yadav’s remarks came in response to Chirag Paswan’s social media post where he accused the RJD of being unwilling to support a Muslim chief minister either in 2005 or now, ahead of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. “In 2005, my leader, my father, late Ram Vilas Paswan ji, even sacrificed his own party to make a Muslim chief minister — yet even then, you did not support him,” Paswan wrote on X.“RJD was not ready for a Muslim chief minister even in 2005. And today in 2025, it is neither ready to give a Muslim chief minister nor a deputy chief minister (to Bihar),” he added, urging the minority community to rethink its political loyalty. “If you remain a bonded vote bank, how will you get respect and participation?” he asked.In 2005, Bihar witnessed two Assembly elections after a fractured mandate in February that year. The NDA, comprising the Janata Dal (United) and the BJP, won 92 seats, while the RJD secured 75, the LJP 29, and the Congress 10. The RJD and Congress failed to form a government with Paswan’s LJP, which had insisted that its support would come only if a Muslim was made chief minister.As no government could be formed, fresh elections were held in October-November 2005, in which the NDA secured a majority and formed the government, ending RJD’s 15-year hold on Bihar’s politics.