"There has definitely been a positive change in him (Rahul Gandhi). The Congress party has won after a long time. You will have to give it to him. If you criticise someone, you should also appreciate them when they perform well," Chirag Paswan said.
In an apparent dig at the BJP, Paswan said while the saffron party persisted with issues like religion and temples, the Congress was spot on raising concerns related to farmers and unemployment.
"They chose issue well. The manner in which they raised the issue of farmers and unemployment, I feel they chose well and we stayed tangled in religion and temples. I urge the government that we should focus once again solely on development in the time to come," he said.
Earlier in the day, the LJP pressed for finalisation of the coalition's seat-sharing arrangement in Bihar by month-end while making it clear it will not agree for anything less than six Lok Sabha seats and one in Rajya Sabha.
The assertion was made by LJP's state president Pashupati Kumar Paras, younger brother of the party chief and union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, a day after the party's parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan expressed dissatisfaction over no headway being made on the seat-sharing issue despite several meetings with the BJP leaders.
Paras said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has "undoubtedly" weakened in Bihar with exit of partners like Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha.
On Tuesday, in a series of tweets, Chirag Paswan had on Tuesday cautioned the BJP against damage to the NDA in the event of the BJP's failure to arrive at a seat-sharing formula that was respectable for other allies.
His tweets have triggered speculations that the party, which was part of the Congress-led UPA for a decade before switching over to the BJP-led coalition during the 2014 polls, was bracing for changing sides yet again.