Saturday, February 19 2005 14:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Claiming that Bihar poll results would trigger ''a turmoil'' in national politics, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president M Venkaiah Naidu today (Feb 19, 2005) did not rule out the possibility of ''fresh political alignments'' taking place at the Centre.

''The outcome of the State Assembly elections will spark a turmoil in national politics with fresh alignments of political forces,'' Naidu, who was in Patna to canvass support for his party candidates in the third and final phase poll in Bihar, said at a press conference.

He, however, refused to further elaborate on the issue saying, "it will not be appropriate to speak much about it at this stage.''

Naidu alleged that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had ''completely disintegrated'' ahead of the Assembly polls in Bihar with its allies failing to reach a perfect seat-sharing arrangement and fighting against one another in most of the seats.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ramvilas Paswan had already gone on record accusing Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Laloo Prasad of ''plotting to topple the UPA Government in tacit understanding with the communal forces and would launch a third front''.

Ruling out the possibility of his party having a post-poll alliance with the LJP of Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan, Naidu said, ''I don't intend to level any allegation against him (Paswan) but his recent statements on imposition of President's rule and his frequently changing stand on Chief Ministership have brought into focus the reality that he is not dependable."

Claiming that the RJD Government was on its way out with the trends available from the first and second phase poll in 149 of the 243 Assembly constituencies, he charged the ruling party with ''desperately trying to rig the third phase poll in its favour".

He urged the Election Commission (EC) to make adequate arrangements to ensure free and fair third and final phase of elections in Bihar.

Naidu also accused the RJD of ''trying to misuse the Government machinery to manipulate poll results".

Stating that the law and order, water, electricity and road and mal-administration were the key electoral issues in the polls, he said if voted to power, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would accord top priority to making Bihar ''crime-free''.

In reply to a question, Naidu said his party disfavoured the reported move to reschedule the polls in Gopalganj and Siwan districts and demanded that the Election Commission ensure deployment of para-military forces at all the booths in the two districts.