Have family ties with Tejashwi but political alignment not possible due to ideologies: Chirag

Patna, May 28 (PTI) Union minister Chirag Paswan on Wednesday asserted that he has "family relations" with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav but a political alignment was not possible because of "extreme ideological differences".

The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president responded to queries from journalists about his visit to Nawada district in Bihar last week where he happened to cross paths with Yadav, triggering speculations in a section of the media.

"We have family relations that began with our fathers. So, we may interact socially but we do have extreme ideological differences which make a political alignment impossible. Had it been possible, we would have joined hands in the 2020 assembly polls which I chose to contest without being part of any coalition," Paswan said.

He added, referring to the birth of Yadav's son a day ago, "I am happy that my nephew is born. If it occasions a meeting, you should not look too much into it. And the last time we ran into each other could not even be called a proper meeting." Notably, both Paswan and Yadav had gone to Nawada to meet bereaved family members of Army jawan Manish Kumar who recently died during a military operation in Jammu and Kashmir.

The two young leaders shook hands and barely exchanged a word or two before parting ways but their photograph has been shared by many a media outlet here.

The LJP(RV) chief refused to comment on the expulsion of Yadav's elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav from the RJD, saying "it is an internal matter of their party and their family".

Paswan said he was excited about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day tour of Bihar from Thursday and expressed hope "it will set the tone for NDA's march to victory in the upcoming assembly polls in the state".

He also expressed grave concern over the recent spurt in incidents of crime in the state and said he expected the Nitish Kumar government to "tackle the situation with the seriousness that it deserves". PTI NAC ACD