Friday, January 14 2005 15:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) president Laloo Prasad today (Jan 14, 2005) said that his party had "no objection" to Congress fighting 80 seats in coming Bihar Assembly polls forcing friendly contests in many seats but said it will have no negative impact on the health of Centre's ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance).

"RJD will, however, not field its candidates on the 14 seats having sitting Congress MLAs. On rest of the seats, we have no objection in going for friendly contests with the Congress," Laloo told reporters.

While the Congress had won 12 seats in the last Assembly polls, two Independents Ravindra Kumar Mishra and Aditya Singh had later joined the party.

Asked if the talks with the Congress had broken, he replied in the negative and said RJD representatives were still in touch with the Congress leadership to remove the irritants.

The RJD supremo, however, made it clear that friendly fights would have no "negative impact on the health of the UPA as our priority is to defeat the communal NDA (National Democratic Alliance). This I had conveyed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in my recent meeting with her".

Laloo evaded a direct reply to a question on how many seats the RJD would contest saying "talks are on. Adequate number of seats will be spared for the allies in accordance with their strength."

Laloo Prasad said RJD will have seat adjustments with NCP (Nationalist Congress Party), CPI (Communist Party of India) and CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and will not field candidates on the 14 seats held by Congress at present. "I will even campaign for Congress nominees in those seats," he said.

Congress had yesterday indicated that it would fight 80 seats in Bihar and will have friendly contest with RJD on several seats.

Taking a dig at his bete noire Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief and Union minister Ramvilas Paswan, Laloo said, "He (Paswan) is surrounded by gangsters each of whom is demanding 50 seats for his supporters."

Asked if he would invite Paswan to join the RJD-led alliance, he said, "Paswan seems to have taken a vow to oppose us. There is no question of extending an invitation to him to join the secular alliance."

While asserting that his party will be voted to power for the fourth consecutive term, the RJD boss said, "there is no vacancy for CM's post in Bihar and the electorate will renew our contract with them for another five years with Rabri Devi as Chief Minister."