The Hindu : Other States / Bihar News : Paswan sticks to his guns on BJP

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Monday, Apr 11, 2005

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Other States - Bihar

Paswan sticks to his guns on BJP

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, APRIL 10. The Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) president, Ram Vilas Paswan, today said he stood by his principle that he would not be party to any efforts towards government formation in Bihar if this entailed support from the Bharatiya Janata Party from inside or outside.

Attacking the Janata Dal (United) leadership for participating in the BJP's recent national council session here, Mr. Paswan charged the JD (U) president, George Fernandes, with having endorsed the saffron party's Hindutva line with his presence at its conclave. He also said the other JD (U) leader, Nitish Kumar, was "nothing (kuch bhi nahin hain)" in his party and he could not be sure whether he had the support of even half of the newly-elected JD (U) MLAs in Bihar.

Mr. Paswan's charge was that the JD (U) was spreading misinformation about his stand, which had remained unchanged and was unshakeable on the question of the BJP. "I will make the biggest sacrifice to keep the BJP out ... in any case I have always said that I was not a chief ministerial candidate ... if the JD (U) is keen to form a government in Bihar let them leave the BJP, and the next day there will be a government in the State.''

No communication

He also charged that Mr. Kumar had "first selected himself for the post of chief minister, then drafted the so-called common minimum programme when even half of the JD (U) MLAs are not with him [Nitish] ... there has not been a line of communication between me and Nitish since the election or even before it."

While he had met the Communist Party of India general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, the Nationalist Congress Party president, Sharad Pawar, and others to explore government formation in Bihar, he would do so on the basis of principles, and not because he was in a hurry or restless to see an elected government in place. "Every political party would like to see a popularly-elected government in place," he said, but he would not do this sacrificing the principle of no truck with the BJP and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which stand he had taken before the elections, during the campaign and after the results.

Mr. Paswan made it clear that he had been provoked by the charges levelled against him by Mr. Kumar and the JD (U).

He denied that his mission was to break up the National Democratic Alliance (both JD (U) and the BJP are part of it). All he had said was that for him to do business with the JD (U) it would have to leave the BJP's apron strings.

At the same time, he charged that some JD (U) leaders had been calling his party's legislators to meet them in hotels and try to lure them away. But so far they had not been successful in breaking his party although he had not stopped any of his MLAs from meeting anyone.

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