The Hindu : National : Firm up ties or face the music, Paswan warns RJD BIHAR

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Firm up ties or face the music, Paswan warns RJD BIHAR

K. Balchand

He is upset at RJD convening meet rather than holding talks

Ram Vilas Paswan

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s parliamentary party meeting to decide its electoral strategy on Sunday, Union Steel Minister and Lok Jan Shakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan issued a warning to its senior partner – firm up an alliance at the earliest or face the consequences.

Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad has convened the to take stock of the situation after Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde failed to manage a seat-sharing arrangement for the United Progressive Alliance as a whole in Bihar.

Mr. Shinde’s effort to placate Mr. Paswan by agreeing to his demand for a change in the criteria for distribution of seats was met with a detailed repost from the RJD to disprove the LJP’s claim for a greater share of the seats.

Mr. Paswan on Saturday was upset at the RJD convening a conclave rather than holding talks with the State unit chief of his party, Pashupati Kumar Paras, his younger brother.

Political sources feared that both options open to the RJD of authorising Mr. Prasad to take a decision on forming an alliance and permitting the board to hold negotiations could be detrimental to the LJP.

Mr. Paswan asked why Mr. Prasad had not consulted his party leaders earlier and avoided meeting his brother who had arrived in the national capital with the sole purpose of holding talks with him.

The LJP chief said that his patience was being tested and that he did not consider it prudent to delay taking a decision on his course of action for the elections.

Mr. Paswan stressed that if the situation was so imposed upon him, he would not hesitate contesting the elections on his own. He said he had to guard his position and hence directed his workers to be prepared to contest all 40 seats in Bihar.

The Congress, aware of the fallout of the standoff between the RJD and LJP, was pitching in to do its best to retrieve the situation from getting out of hands. Union Minister and Congressman Shakeel Ahmed, who hails from Bihar, said the party would continue to keep the two allies engaged in talks and reason with them to bridge their differences to keep communal forces at bay.

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