The Hindu : National : Paswan, JMM pledge support

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Sunday, May 16, 2004

National

National

Paswan, JMM pledge support

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 15. The Lok Janshakti Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have written to the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, informing him of their decision to support the formation of a secular government headed by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.

In a letter to Mr. Kalam, copies of which were made available to the media, the LJP chief, Ram Vilas Paswan, said: "The Lok Janshakti Party will support a secular government at the Centre comprising the Congress, its allies and other like-minded parties under the leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi." Both the LJP and the JMM have four MPs each.

Mr. Paswan told presspersons that his party had decided to join the government and appealed to all secular parties to follow suit to ensure its stability.

His appeal is considered crucial as it comes at a time when the CPI(M) politburo is in session here deliberating on whether the party should join the government or not.

Mr. Paswan has also been trying to persuade the Telengana Rashtra Samiti chairperson, Chandrasekhar Rao, to join the government both at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh.

"The new government will try and resolve the issue of small States on a priority basis," he said.

Mr. Paswan has been actively involved in trying to garner support for the new government and has been in touch with the former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, the Janata Dal (Secular) president, Deva Gowda, and the CPI(M) general secretary, Harkishen Singh Surjeet. "The effort is to maximise the support base of this government," he said.

He felt that the priority should be to put a government in place as soon as possible and that issues such as portfolios were secondary.

He was, however, in favour of a common minimum programme that reflected the views of all the supporting parties.

Mr. Paswan said he had not put any conditions for his support, but had indicated that his party was in favour of the formation of a Dalit regiment with a view to giving the community a sense of belonging.

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