Friday, March 4 2005 13:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: The impasse over Government formation in Bihar persisted today (Mar 4, 2005) with independents too jolting Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Laloo Prasad's bid to stake claim to form the Government as the State appeared heading for a spell of President's Rule with only a couple of days left for expiry of the term of the State Assembly.

Several of 17 independents, including Jagdish Sharma (Ghosi), Kishore Kumar Munna (Sonebarsa), Vijendra Choudhury (Muzaffarpur) were "dead against" extending support to the RJD as they had successfully fought the elections on "anti-Laloo plank".

Sharma said that a majority of independents would never support the RJD further dampening the prospects of Government formation by the party, which has so far been able to muster support of ten MLAs of Congress and one of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), besides the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati's letter of support though her two MLAs are against it.

RJD with 75 MLAs, besides the assured support of Congress and CPM officially has support of 86, while letter of support from its other secular allies, including Communist Party of India (CPI) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was yet to be received.

A top RJD leader claims that even if Rabri Devi, who has already been elected its legislature party leader, stakes claim Governor Buta Singh is unlikely to invite her to form the Government in absence of the requisite 122 MLAs necessary for the RJD to prove its majority in the 243-member Assembly.

According to political analysts, with no combination being in a position to muster required strength of MLAs, the Governor would be left with no option other than recommending imposition of President's rule in view of "heavily-fragmented" mandate.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ramvilas Paswan, who holds the key to Government formation, is expected to return to the State capital by late evening from New Delhi but his endeavour for installation of a non-RJD and non- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government for which he claimed talks were underway with like-minded parties, was yet to bear fruit with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) together with its ally BJP adopting a "wait and watch" policy.

A senior NDA leader claimed though talks had taken place among lower rung leaders of the JD-U and LJP, senior JD-U leaders were showing reluctance in establishing contact with Paswan at this fluid stage due to his recalcitrance on taking even outside support from the BJP.

When contacted, BJP national vice president Sushil Kumar Modi said that without the support of party's 37 MLAs, no non-RJD combination would be able to form the Government.

"Moreover, the BJP will like to be part and parcel of a non-RJD Government and the talk of taking party's support from outside is improper and unpractical," Modi said amid reports that pressure was being built on Paswan to join hands with the JD-U to form the Government taking outside support from the saffron party.

Without naming the LJP, Modi said that the talks of alienation of minorities as a result of taking support from the BJP were also "ingenuine". "If it were so, four Muslim candidates of the JD-U our, old ally would not have won."

"Secularism or communalism were not the poll planks in Bihar, where development was the main agenda," Modi said.

Interestingly, Paswan whose LJP had on February 28 informed the Governor that it would not support either RJD or NDA, had also shifted his stand amidst media reports about possibility of a rapprochement with the JD-U but no concrete step has far been taken in this regard.