JD(U)'s ‘Pappu’ jibe at Rahul Gandhi for caste-survey claim: ‘Keep entertaining with your jokes’

The Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday stepped up its attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for claiming that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar conducted the caste survey under pressure from the grand alliance partners, saying his dream of becoming Prime Minister will never be fulfilled by resorting to falsehood.

Rahul Gandhi, at a rally in Bihar's Purnea, claimed that Nitish Kumar was feeling trapped after getting a caste survey conducted under pressure from the RJD and the Congress and that the BJP “provided him with a way out”.

Soon after the rally, Gandhi wrote in a post on X: "We had made it clear to Nitish ji that he will have to get caste survey done. We will give him no concessions. Buckling under pressure, he struck a compromise with the BJP which has always been against social justice. He got scared, but we are not going to be afraid."

Reacting to Gandhi's claims, former JD(U) chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh, aka Lalan Singh, said in a post on X, “There cannot be such a big lie. Perhaps you don't know that Nitish Kumar ji never works under anyone's pressure.”

Read: Rahul Gandhi's car windscreen damaged, Cong MP suspects stone-pelting

Singh asserted that Nitish was determined to conduct the caste-based survey and he had even raised the issue when V.P. Singh was the prime minister. He further alleged that Gandhi remained silent when West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee opposed the resolution proposed by the JD(U) on caste-based census during the INDIA bloc meetings in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

“Your situation is such that when Janata Dal (United) was asked to pass a resolution in the meetings in Bengaluru and Mumbai, West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee opposed it and you supported her by remaining silent,” Singh alleged.

“Do not resort to false statements to achieve something in the country's politics. This is the reason why your Congress party is shrinking day by day,” he said.

“One more thing, you are 'Pappu', will remain 'Pappu' and will keep 'entertaining' the country with your 'jokes'.”