Stop personal attacks on Rahul, allies tell BJP

"The NDA's agenda is development. If the NDA will persist with issues like Ram temple and Lord Hanuman, people will be confused," LJP MP Chirag Paswan, the son of Ram Vilas Paswan, said here on Thursday.

Picture: Rahul Gandhi (Twitter account)

Patna: After capturing three heartland states, there’s an uptick in Rahul’s stature and he’s found a bit of a support from the NDA camps as well. BJP allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) have urged the BJP leadership to abstain from making personal attacks on Congress President. The coalition partners believe one reason why the BJP lost Assembly elections was because of personal attacks being made against him time and again. The Bharatiya Janata Party was also advised by its allies in Bihar to keep the focus on Vikas (development agenda) instead of the Ram temple and issues such as Lord Hanuman's caste. Two days after the BJP was ousted from power in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the JD-U of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the LJP of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan voiced their objection to the BJP's aggressive tone over issues not linked to development, reported IANS. "The NDA's agenda is development. If the NDA will persist with issues like Ram temple and Lord Hanuman, people will be confused," LJP MP Chirag Paswan, the son of Ram Vilas Paswan, said here on Thursday. Senior JD-U leader K.C. Tyagi also believed that during the bitter campaigning process, personal attacks on Rahul Gandhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi were objectionable which in turn caused self-harm. "The BJP has harmed itself because of this." Tyagi, General Secretary of JD-U, said the BJP only raised emotional issues during the elections and gave matters related to farmers, employment, price rise and corruption a miss.