Author: Bisheshwar Mishra/TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 24, 2004
Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan
has said that railway minister Lalu Prasad and his RJD colleagues in the
mamohan Singh government were "dragging down" the image of the congress-led
UPA minister.
Paswan told TOI that while the renunciation
of the PM's post by Sonia Gandhi and premiere Manmohan Singh's integrity
were positives for the UPA, the coalition's image was going downhill due
to the RJD presence in government.
In what is the first expression
of uneasiness by a cabinet minister over the 'tainted' ministers' controversy,
Paswan said: "It is because of RJD that BJP, which was bereft of any issue
after the elections, has threatened to turn on the heat on 'tainted ministers'
yet again".
Paswan was scathing over what he
said was Lalu Prasad's 15 years of misrule in Bihar. While he would welcome
a tie-up with congress, he said he was ready to contest on his own if Sonia
Gandhi did not strike a deal with his Lok Janshakti Party for the
coming elections.
He said he was not the only UPA
partner with reservations over Lalu, "CPI is opposed to him. Ninety per
cent of Congressmen do not want an alliance with him," Paswan stressed.
He did not see any contradiction in his plans to fight the Bihar elections
against Lalu while sitting in the manmohan Singh ministrymwith RJD nominees.
"Politics of the Centre is different
from politics of state," he said., "I am sitting on a bigger pile of transferable
votes. If Lalu has 10% backward votes, I can swing 15% votes as the last
elections showed." Paswan claimed. He felt that minorities were also disillusioned
with Lalu but were stuck with him because they could not vote BJP. In LJP
they would have a secular alternative. He said that he wanted to eliminate
the distinction between 'dalits' and 'most backward castes' in Bihar.
Recalling his resignation from NDA
on the Gujarat issue. Paswan said "Everybody knows that it was a principled
stand. I had nothing to do with Gujarat politics. I had resigned only because
I was deeply anguished by the riots there. In most Bihar constituencies.
LJP will soon become the number one anti-BJP formation."
