Coming full circle, Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, which left the NDA in 2002, is all set to align with the BJP in Bihar for Lok Sabha polls, giving a jolt to Congress’ plans to have a “secular” alliance with the LJP and the RJD.
The alliance between the BJP and the LJP is likely to be announced in a couple of days as the party’s Parliamentary Board authorised Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan to take a final decision in this regard and did not hide its bitterness towards Lalu Prasad’s RJD.
“LJP Parliamentary Board has passed a resolution that all steps, even if they are strong ones, should be taken in the interest of the party and if an alternative alliance is to be firmed up, party chief Ram Vilas Paswan should take the decision,” Chirag Paswan, who heads the Parliamentary Board, told reporters.
He said that there was a “deadlock” on the issue of alliance between the RJD-Congress and the LJP.
To a question whether the LJP will tie-up with the BJP, he said that “all options are now open for the LJP”.
Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan said members in the Parliamentary Board were of the opinion that the option of going with BJP should also be kept open.
The LJP chief said: “We had our grievances with RJD for a long time. I had even gone to meet Lalu Prasad in jail. But soon after he was out, RJD leaders started saying LJP should be given three seats. That is why we left to Congress to decide the seat sharing. I waited for months, but there was no decision.”
“They assumed that LJP is nothing, it is irrelevant. If one takes 25 seats (RJD) and the other 15 (Congress). It means they do not treat LJP as part of the alliance… That is why the party has authorised me to explore new alternative“.
The LJP had also explored possibility of a tie-up with the JD(U).
To questions whether the LJP has no problems aligning with Narendra Modi-led BJP, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan said, “Opinion in LJP is not against going with BJP. A decision on alliance will be taken in 3-4 days since the party has given the responsibility for it….
“The party looks for a new option. It means that there is a deadlock in the old alternative. Our alliance was with the RJD. That option is now deadlocked. There is now no dialogue, no communication.”
Several BJP leaders have met Mr. Chirag Paswan. Talk is that the BJP has offered seven seats to the LJP, which is pressing for nine seats in Bihar.
BJP MP Shahnawaz Hussain had called on the LJP chief a few days back while senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had visited Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan on January 14, 2014 on the day of Makar Sankranti.
Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan had left the NDA and resigned from the Vajpayee government in the wake of the Gujarat riots in 2002.
The LJP was part of the Congress-led UPA from 2004 to 2009 with Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan being a Cabinet Minister.
–PTI