New Delhi: Apparently annoyed with the Congress for not concluding the pre-poll alliance talks, the LJP dropped hints that it would not shy away from having an electoral tie up with the BJP. Even though the RJD chief Lalu Prasad appealed the LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan not to go into the “communal” BJP camp, the Parliamentary board chief Chirag Paswan sta-ted that “after the clean chit from the courts to Narendra Modi, there is no issue in talking about it (post-Godhra riots) anymore”.
Mr Paswan, who was a Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA at the Centre, had quit the government after the post-Godhra riots. But the sense of being unwanted by the Congress appears to have pushed Mr Paswan to open channels with the BJP. He, however, refused to clearly spell out wh-ether the party would be having an alliance with BJP.
The BJP chief Rajnath Singh also sounded ambivalent as he told reporters that he had not spoken to any one from the LJP about alliance. However, the BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain has reportedly been in touch with the LJP leaders.
Mr Chirag Paswan admitted that there is “distress” within the party over the delay in seat-sharing adjustment on the part of the Congress. However, sources stated that a formal announcement on a pre-poll alli-ance with the BJP is imminent. But, sources in the RJD maintained that the LJP could be resorting to bargaining tactics to ensure the Congress concludes the talks at the earliest.
While a section of the LJP is dropping hints for a tie-up with the BJP, others within the party stress that their talks with the Congress and RJD are “still on”. Meanwhile, Bihar BJP leader Ashwini Choubey questioned the move to align with the LJP, saying he would be “very hurt” if such a thing happened. “What is the point in aligning with someone, whom we had redu-ced to zero in last election” he said.
