NEW DELHI: Enthused by the impressive turnout at the ‘Sankalp Rally’ organised by his party in Patna on Wednesday, Lok Janshakti Party chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan has again expressed his resolve of going it alone in the next round of electoral battle in the state.
The Union steel and chemicals and fertiliser minister, who spoke to ET here on Friday, saw the turnout at the rally as a vindication of his stand that the people in Bihar, who had already rejected the RJD, were getting increasingly disillusioned with Nitish Kumar government and were looking for a third alternative. The LJP, he maintained, was ready to fill the vacuum.
Mr Paswan, who contested the 2004 general election as part of a broad “secular” alliance comprising the RJD, the Congress, the CPM and the NCP, is now determined to plough a lonely furrow. “We have already declared that we’ll not go either with the RJD or the NDA,” he said. He, however, hastened to add that the final decision on the issue would be taken by his party’s parliamentary board.
Explaining the circumstances in which he was forced to join hands with his arch rival Lalu Prasad on the eve of the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, he said he had quit the NDA and the Vajpayee government on the issue of Gujarat. “Last time, it was a special situation.
Now, there is no question of joining hands with either the RJD or the NDA,” the LJP leader asserted. The Union minister would like the Congress to jettison the RJD and embrace his party so as to form an alternative “secular” platform, but was aware that, under the present circumstances, this was not possible. “I’ve not said ‘no’ to the Congress,” he said, adding at the same time that it was for the Congress to take a final call on the subject.
Mr Paswan’s assertion spells trouble for RJD strongman Lalu Prasad’s attempts to emerge as the most formidable player in the state. In the 2004 general election, the “secular” alliance, contesting the electoral battle as a cohesive force in Bihar, had emerged triumphant, bagging 30 of the 40 seats. The LJP, which had been allocated eight seats — Bagaha, Hajipur, Rosera, Balia, Saharsa, Araria, Purnea and Nalanda — as part of the seat-sharing arrangement, managed to win half of these, including Hajipur, Rosera, Balia and Saharsa.
In the two rounds of Assembly polls held a year later, the LJP decided to part ways with the RJD-led alliance and opted to go solo. The split in the secular votes was one of the primary factors responsible for the RJD’s downfall.
The LJP chief now wants to repeat the experiment by continuing to chant the “ekla chalo re” theme. He’s aware that his decision may only end up helping the NDA, but is clearly not bothered. “It’s not a question of gains or losses. It’s the question of my party-workers’ morale,” Mr Paswan pointed out.
The LJP’s graph, he maintained, was set to climb upwards as the people of Bihar were now looking towards it to take them out of the mess that had set in. “The issue is not whom will the LJP go with, but rather which parties will now join hands with it,” the Dalit leader said.
The Union steel and chemicals and fertiliser minister, who spoke to ET here on Friday, saw the turnout at the rally as a vindication of his stand that the people in Bihar, who had already rejected the RJD, were getting increasingly disillusioned with Nitish Kumar government and were looking for a third alternative. The LJP, he maintained, was ready to fill the vacuum.
Mr Paswan, who contested the 2004 general election as part of a broad “secular” alliance comprising the RJD, the Congress, the CPM and the NCP, is now determined to plough a lonely furrow. “We have already declared that we’ll not go either with the RJD or the NDA,” he said. He, however, hastened to add that the final decision on the issue would be taken by his party’s parliamentary board.
Explaining the circumstances in which he was forced to join hands with his arch rival Lalu Prasad on the eve of the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, he said he had quit the NDA and the Vajpayee government on the issue of Gujarat. “Last time, it was a special situation.
Now, there is no question of joining hands with either the RJD or the NDA,” the LJP leader asserted. The Union minister would like the Congress to jettison the RJD and embrace his party so as to form an alternative “secular” platform, but was aware that, under the present circumstances, this was not possible. “I’ve not said ‘no’ to the Congress,” he said, adding at the same time that it was for the Congress to take a final call on the subject.
Mr Paswan’s assertion spells trouble for RJD strongman Lalu Prasad’s attempts to emerge as the most formidable player in the state. In the 2004 general election, the “secular” alliance, contesting the electoral battle as a cohesive force in Bihar, had emerged triumphant, bagging 30 of the 40 seats. The LJP, which had been allocated eight seats — Bagaha, Hajipur, Rosera, Balia, Saharsa, Araria, Purnea and Nalanda — as part of the seat-sharing arrangement, managed to win half of these, including Hajipur, Rosera, Balia and Saharsa.
In the two rounds of Assembly polls held a year later, the LJP decided to part ways with the RJD-led alliance and opted to go solo. The split in the secular votes was one of the primary factors responsible for the RJD’s downfall.
The LJP chief now wants to repeat the experiment by continuing to chant the “ekla chalo re” theme. He’s aware that his decision may only end up helping the NDA, but is clearly not bothered. “It’s not a question of gains or losses. It’s the question of my party-workers’ morale,” Mr Paswan pointed out.
The LJP’s graph, he maintained, was set to climb upwards as the people of Bihar were now looking towards it to take them out of the mess that had set in. “The issue is not whom will the LJP go with, but rather which parties will now join hands with it,” the Dalit leader said.
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