Friday, January 14 2005 19:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ramvilas Paswan today (Jan 14, 2005) deferred the release of the list of his party's candidates for Bihar Assembly polls, saying he was awaiting Congress' list so as not to harm its nominees.

"As I don't want to harm the Congress nominees, I am awaiting the release of its list of candidates to avoid friendly contests. We would like the Congress to win every seat where we extend support to it," Paswan, who had offered Chief Ministership to the Congress recently, told reporters.

In an apparent bid to curry favour with the Congress, which earlier appeared keen on having an electoral pact with Laloo Prasad's RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Paswan said "LJP Parliamentary board has finalised the names of the candidates but I have deferred the announcement to have an idea of the Congress nominees."

"If there is the need I will even campaign for Congress candidates," he said but did not "absolutely" rule out the possibility of friendly contests in some places.

"My priority is to defeat the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) and RJD candidates and towards achieving this objective I will leave no stone unturned," he said.

Paswan said in his talks with senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, he had requested him not to field its candidates in the six seats LJP had won in the last elections and the seats of the four MLAs who later joined his party.

"If this does not come about we may have friendly fights in some seats," he said.

Replying to a question, Paswan said LJP's list will be announced "in good time".