The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which is extending outside support to the UPA II, today criticised the poverty criteria determined by the government and said the poor should be defined only after discussion in Parliament.
"The poverty level fixed by the government according to which those earning a little above Rs 27 in rural areas and Rs 33.5 in urban areas are above poverty line is wrong," LJP president Ramvilas Paswan told reporters.
He said as the prime minister is the chairman of the Planning Commission, such system of fixing poverty line should have been avoided and it should be decided only after discussion in Parliament.
The party would try to use social media to unite the youth, said Paswan's son Chirag, who was recently appointed as the chairman of the party's parliamentary board.
Asked whether he was feeling out of place in politics due to his background in Bollywood, the Paswan junior said "politics is in blood."
In reply to a question if he felt competition in Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav (sons of Lalu Prasad), he answered in the negative and said he would try to learn from them.
