Sunday, September 18 2005 16:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Leaving the ball in the court of Congress to decide on the contentious issue of seat-sharing, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president and Union minister Ramvilas Paswan today (Sept 18, 2005) said he did not want to be a roadblock in Congress' bid to align with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and announced that his party had arrived at a perfect seat-sharing accord with the Communist Party of India (CPI), Forward Bloc and Socialist Unity Center of India (SUCI).

I don't want to come in the way of the Congress desperate bid to have alliance with RJD. We are maintaining a wait and watch policy, Paswan told sources.

He, however, said the LJP had arrived at a perfect seat-sharing agreement with the CPI, Forward Bloc and SUCI after holding several rounds of talks with their leaders and it would be announced at a press conference soon.

On the possibility of an alliance with the Congress, Paswan said the ball is now in Congress' court and it has to decide whether it wants to go with the RJD or us. I will not not be a roadblock in such exercise.

Claiming that the LJP represented the larger United Progressive Alliance (UPA) groups , he said the Congress would be committing political harakiri if it forged an electoral tie-up with RJD, the party responsible for all the ills in Bihar.

Asked to comment on the CPI-ML setting a precondition that it would have electoral understanding with the LJP after the latter snapped its ties with the UPA and Congress, Paswan said everybody knows that CPI-ML is not on good terms with the Congress.

I cannot force any political party to have an alliance with us.

On the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) suggestions not to press the issue of a Muslim chief minister at this stage, Paswan said the chapter is now closed. Muslims, dalits and extremely backward classes have decided to vote for LJP to teach both RJD and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) a lesson.

Asking the Congress leadership to steer clear of the controversy over the issue of Muslim chief minister, Paswan asserted that he was ready to make any sacrifice for the uplift of the minorities, dalits and other weaker sections of society but ruled out the possibility of his resignation from the UPA under pressure from any quarter.

Referring to All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Digvijay Singh dubbing the LJP's demand for a Muslim chief minister as unreasonable and impractical, he said by raking up the issue, the secular credentials of the Congress had come under doubt.

It is now for the Congress to choose between RJD and the LJP and retract from its stand describing my party's advocacy of a Muslim chief minister as unreasonable and impractical to steer clear of the controversy, he said.

If LJP's demand is unreasonable, what can we say about RJD leader Lalu Prasad's obduracy in projecting his wife Rabri Devi as chief minister? Does it augur well for the Congress to align with Lalu Prasad, who has been instrumental in the rise of communal and fascist forces represented by the NDA, Paswan said.

If former PM V P Singh had not compelled Lalu Prasad to arrest L K Advani in course of his rath yatra and if the Babri mosque was not demolished in 1992, Lalu Prasad's party would have been shown the door much earlier, he claimed.