Saturday, September 24 2005 11:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Congress yesterday (Sept 23, 2005) accused Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) President Ramvilas Paswan of violating the coalition dharma by choosing a course independent of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in Bihar assembly polls but sought to be soft on his continuance in the Union Cabinet.

"I believe he has violated the coalition dharma. We are not dejected or disheartened. We do not link Central cabinet with the Bihar issue at all," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) briefing in New Delhi.

Singhvi said this to a volley of questions whether Congress, heading the Central coalition, would demand the LJP leader's ouster from the Government as has been done by Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) and suggested by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Regretting the stand taken by Paswan, he said it was 'neither desirable nor principled' and it would benefit communal forces by dividing secular votes.

AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, talking separately, also took potshots at Paswan over his advocacy of a Muslim Chief Minister.

"Secularism does not mean a Muslim Chief Minister. If Paswan is concerned about Muslims, how come he did not have a single Muslim candidate out of the eight Lok Sabha seats he had? Twenty-nine MLAs won from his party. How come there was no Muslim? he said.

Asserting that this kind of politics would not help, Singh said minority voters were "not foolish". He said he had told Paswan that first the secular forces should get a majority and "then we can decide on who should be the Chief Minister. Even Laluji had agreed to this".