Sunday, March 6 2005 13:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Sticking to his earlier stand, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ramvilas Paswan, whose party holds the key to Government formation in Bihar, today (Mar 6, 2005) said before Governor Buta Singh that he would support neither the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) nor Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in forming a Ministry.

''The Governor wanted to know from me whether there has been any change in my stand and I said no, and requested him to take appropriate steps so that this (RJD) Government goes,'' he told reporters emerging from the meeting with Singh at Raj Bhavan.

Paswan said that the Governor had personally called him up yesterday (Mar 5, 2005) and so he went to meet him with a high-level LJP delegation, including the State president, Narendra Singh, and leader of the 29-member LJP legislature party Ramashray Prasad Singh.

Asked about the response of the Governor, Paswan refused to give details.

''I feel the State should be brought under a brief spell of Central Rule to maintain law and order,'' he said adding, ''We want to form a minus-RJD and minus-BJP Government. It will take some time but it will definitely be formed.''

Rubbishing reports of parleys with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders on Government formation in Bihar, Ram Vilas Paswan said such rumours were being circulated to strengthen RJD.

"Those who are saying that LJP is talking to NDA are lying," Paswan told Aaj Tak TV channel, adding he had never met NDA leaders in person nor talked to them on phone.

"Those who are floating rumours that LJP is talking to NDA on Government formation are trying to strengthen RJD," he said.

"In the last 15 days since the RJD Government lost power, the State has been peaceful. But the people who have gone out of power can create mischief and engineer communal riots. We have thought about it in detail and President's rule is necessary in Bihar for a short while," he said.

To a question, Paswan said he would not accept the post of Chief Minister during the term of the newly elected Assembly.

"A Muslim should be the Chief Minister of Bihar as RJD Government can be voted out only when Muslim community deserts him. Muslim-Yadav combination has been broken and Muslim-Dalit combination has emerged in Bihar," he said.