Monday, February 21 2005 11:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Despite being locked in a bitter electoral battle in Bihar, Union Ministers Laloo Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan have claimed that the outcome of the polls will have no impact on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre.

"These elections will not have any impact on the health of UPA. These elections are being held in the State of Bihar. Why should it have any effect on the Central Government, for whose installation we have worked hard," Railway Minister Laloo Prasad told a BBC Hindi show last night (Feb 20, 2005).

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan, for once, agreed with his archrival and said that the Congress should not take sides in the battle for Bihar.

"The Bihar Assembly elections will not have any impact on the ruling UPA at the Centre. In this fight, between my party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress should remain neutral. All of us are separate political parties and have a right to take independent decisions, which do not affect the alliance," Paswan said.

Describing the Steel and Chemicals Minister as a "foolish politician", Laloo said, "I will prefer to go down the drain rather than align with the communal forces like he has done in the past and may do it again."

Describing his alliance with Paswan during the Lok Sabha polls as a "big blunder", the RJD chief said, "He was with a communal party like the BJP for six years and was enjoying power when Muslims were being butchered in Gujarat."

Giving his version, Paswan said, "During the Lok Sabha elections, my alliance was not with Laloo Yadav. It was with the Congress."

"The situation prevailing in the country at that time was such, we decided to cure the head first and then the feet. I had declared during the Lok Sabha elections that getting rid of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the priority, means curing the head. And I had also said after this we would cure Bihar."

Asked about the post-poll scenario in Bihar, Paswan said, "My party will not have any alliance with either the BJP or the RJD. I will only do business with the Congress."

Laloo, on his part, claimed that Paswan started getting criminals into his party after the Lok Sabha polls last year (2004). "Can he answer what criminals like Suraj Bhan Singh, Rajan Tiwari and Munna Shukla are doing in his Lok Jan Shakti party?"

Criticising the media for painting an adverse image of Bihar, Laloo said, "Unfortunate incidents of kidnappings a few days back were projected by the media as if it had been a national disaster. But the same media remained silent when the State police was successful in returning the children back to their homes."

Visibly annoyed at the media, he said, "No channel or newspaper is showing and writing that all those involved in kidnappings belong to a particular political party. Till the time Pappu Yadav was with RJD he was shown as a criminal, but he became a hero the moment he started abusing our party."