Patna (Bihar) [India], October 24 (ANI): Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Friday accused the Mahagathbandhan of focusing only on vote-bank politics, alleging that its leaders talk about Muslims but fail to give them proper representation and are driven by 'personal ambitions' rather than public welfare.

The decision to appoint Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Mukesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) as chief minister and deputy chief minister, respectively, was also criticised by the LJP (RV) chief.

Speaking to reporters in Patna, Paswan said, 'They only want to retain their vote bank. They talk about Muslims, but when it comes to giving them representation, they give them nothing...Mukesh Sahani has been announced as the Deputy CM face, but he does not care about giving representation to people from his community... The people who have not gone out for campaigning, how will they work for Biharis? In the Mahagathbandhan, the battle is just for their personal ambitions...'

Paswan later asserted that the Muslims should understand the schemes provided by the NDA government that are aimed at delivering benefits to all.

'This is the same RJD to whom my father in 2005 said that they should make a muslim the Chief Minister. Why didn't they make a muslim the CM?... They say something else and do something else. For them, Muslims are just their vote bank. Muslims should understand this and the schemes provided by our government are aimed at providing benefits to all,' the LJP (RV) leader added.

Earlier today, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai hit out at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, labelling him as 'corrupt' and saying that the latter has been 'proven guilty' on corruption charges.

Speaking to ANI, Rai said that Bihar has moved backwards because of Yadav's attempt to 'accumulate wealth and build empires' for his family.

'The one who has become synonymous with corruption and the one who has proven guilty on corruption charges, if he is saying such things, it becomes even more shocking. Bihar has gone back many years because of this one person who accumulated immense wealth and built empires for his family. Tejashwi Yadav has proven corruption charges against him, so what is the need to prove that he is not corrupt?' Rai said.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Mahagathbandhan cleared the air regarding its lead face in the alliance, with the declaration of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Leader of Opposition (LoP) Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial face.

Vikassheel Insaan Party's Mukesh Sahani was declared as the alliance's Deputy CM nominee for the state polls.

The 2025 Bihar elections will have the main contest between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan.

The assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The results will be declared on November 14. (ANI)