New Delhi, July 27: Out in the cold after the defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Dalit leader and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan is being urged by the Congress to break away from the two Yadav chieftains — Mulayam Sigh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav — and align with it.
Paswan is keen to align with the Congress but is trying to impress upon the grand old party the need for taking along the Yadav leaders, underlining that unity of secular forces — Congress, RJD and LJP — was required to take on the Nitish Kumar-led NDA in Bihar.
The Congress, however, is learnt to be not keen on shaking hands with the Yadav leaders pointing out that it was aiming to regain its old, “upper caste-Dalit-Muslim” combination.
When contacted, Paswan acknowledged the offer from the Congress. He said: “I have urged the Congress party to be practical. Lalu Yadav is still a force in Bihar. We cannot ignore the strong Yadav vote bank. If we get divided the NDA will only benefit.”
Paswan finds it difficult to dump the RJD chief as he had gone around Bihar and declared that the alliance with Lalu was intact and that they would contest the Assembly polls together despite the poor show in the Lok Sabha polls.
Paswan refuted talks of merger of his party as the Congress was offering him a Rajya Sabha berth from Delhi. “All these talks are baseless,” he said. Paswan, a powerful Union Minister in the last UPA government, lost his Hajipur Lok Sabha seat this time and his party failed to open an account.
LJP leaders feel that the Congress is keen to win over Paswan to exploit his Dalit image. After its performance in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress aims to bounce back in the entire Hindi heartland, including Bihar.
“And to achieve that it wants to firm up its traditional upper caste-Dalit-Muslim combination. Top Congress leaders are telling us that they do not want either Lalu or Mulayam because the Yadavs have never been a strong votary of the Congress,” said a senior LJP leader.
Bihar Congress leaders too are strongly opposed to any alliance with the RJD, underlining that it would spoil the revival of the party in the state. Senior leaders from the state are impressing upon the party high command that the upper castes in Bihar are disillusioned with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and are inclined to return to the Congress.
Anti-Lalu feeling among the upper castes is still quite strong and befriending him once again would prove suicidal for the Congress, the leaders feel.
–Agencies