New Delhi: After days of suspense, Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) finally decided to tie the knot with the BJP, a party he had been strenuously wooing in recent days. The expected announcement was made by the two parties at a press conference here on Thursday.
BJP president Rajnath Singh and Mr Paswan jointly announced the tieup in which the LJP will get seven Lok Sabha seats out of 40 in Bihar, after BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi gave his nod. The two leaders also stated that they will jointly hold a rally in Muzaffarpur on March 3. Mr Paswan praised the NDA for doing most works for the dalit community, which was not done in the last eight years.
“The whole National Dalit Front is now with the NDA. Mr Modi also comes from a backward caste and he is the PM candidate. I was in the NDA earlier and I am very happy to be its part again,” Mr Paswan said.
The LJP’s coming back into the NDA-fold is likely to give a major shot in the arm to Mr Modi, as the BJP will have a formidable caste equation in Bihar in place to go for maximum seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP and the LJP appear to have forged the alliance on the principle of “give and take”, as the Paswan-led party got only three seats of its choice.
