Ram Vilas Paswan says Narendra Modi faces no real challenge in 2019, Opposition should prepare for 2024 polls instead

New Delhi:  BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan claimed on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced no real challenge in his bid to retain to power in 2019, making light of Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that Opposition parties would unite to take on the ruling NDA in the Lok Sabha polls. [caption id=“attachment_2809708” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ram Vilas Paswan. PTI[/caption] The Lok Janshakti Party chief and Union minister mocked Opposition parties, saying they should start concentrating on the parliamentary polls in 2024. Speaking at an event in London, Gandhi had said that the next election would be pretty straightforward as the BJP would be on one side and every Opposition party on the other. Paswan was speaking to reporters at a function to commemorate the birth anniversary of BP Mandal, whose report as the head of a committee — better known as the Mandal Commission — had paved the way for reservation for Other Backward Communities. He was born this day in 1918. The Dalit leader also used the occasion to attack leaders claiming to be “messiah” for the OBCs, saying the community has only two messiahs — one was Mandal and the other was former prime minister VP Singh, who decided to implement his report. Singh risked his political career and decided to swim against the tide when he announced that his government would implement the report, he said, describing it as a very brave decision. Attacking the Congress, Paswan said governments led by the party sat on the report, which was submitted in 1980, and took no action. The Modi government had empowered the OBCs with its decision to accord constitutional status on a commission looking after its interests, he said. He also welcomed a Delhi High Court verdict convicting the accused in the Mirchpur violence case in which the victims were Dalits.