JOINING FORCES: NCP leader Tariq Anwar, Union Steel Minister and LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan, CPI secretary D. Raja and CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury greet each other before their departure for Bhagalpur by-election campaigning, in Patna on Thurs day. Photo: Ranjeet Kumar

PATNA: The Left parties, the Lok Janshakti Party and the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday spoke out against division of secular votes in the Lok Sabha by-elections on November 6 for Bihar's Bhagalpur and Nalanda constituencies.

LJP chief and Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India secretary D. Raja and NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar at a press conference said they differed with the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on the issue.

Though the leaders wanted the Congress' support, no senior Congress leader was present at the press conference. While the Congress is supporting the two Left candidates in Bihar against the National Democratic Alliance and the RJD, the latter is supporting the Congress candidate in the Koderma Lok Sabha constituency in Jharkhand. The leaders regretted Mr. Prasad's refusal to accept the formula reached during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections to keep the NDA out. Mr. Prasad has fielded his own nominee from Bhagalpur and is supporting an Independent candidate from Nalanda.

The CPI (M) is contesting the Bhagalpur seat while the CPI successfully reasoned with the LJP to spare the Nalanda constituency for it. The two vacancies were caused by the resignation of its NDA members. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar quit the Nalanda seat and Deputy Chief Minister S.K. Modi gave up the Bhagalpur seat.

Mr. Paswan said such unity would have guaranteed victory in both constituencies and that the presence of the RJD put a question mark on the outcome. Mr. Yechury said the RJD stand was unfortunate.Mr. Raja was thankful to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Mr. Paswan for extending their support to the Left candidates.

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