Paswan all set to align with BJP again

“The party looks for a new option. It means that there is a deadlock in the old alternative. Our alliance was with the RJD. That option is now deadlocked. There is now no dialogue, no communication.”

Some BJP leaders have met Chirag. Talk is that BJP has offered seven seats to LJP, which is pressing for nine seats.  BJP MP Shahnawaz Hussain had called on LJP chief a few days back while senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had visited Paswan on January 14 on the day of Makar Sankranti.

Paswan had left the NDA and resigned from the Vajpayee government after the Gujarat riots in 2002.  LJP was part of the Congress-led UPA from 2004 to 2009 with Paswan being a Cabinet Minister at the Centre.

“Our alliance with RJD is now over,” LJP leader Rama Singh said after the meeting.

LJP sources said that talks for a tie-up between LJP and BJP have already progressed to a substantial level.

Under the arrangement discussed so far, BJP has agreed to spare seven out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar for Paswan's party.

The seats for which there is a broad agreement so far include Hajipur, Samastipur, Jamui, Munger, Khagaria and Vaishali.

Asked whether LJP would have no problem with Modi in view of the 2002 riots taint, Chirag Paswan had said on Monday, “If the court has given its verdict and they say he (Modi) is clean, then I do not think it is an issue to talk about now.”

BJP, which has seen some of its Bihar leaders opposing the tie-up move, has not come on record on the issue with its central leaders saying they can say anything only if something concrete happens.

The party, which is keenly trying to woo dalits, is expected to get a boost if a pre-poll alliance with LJP fructifies.

Congress, which was keen for a tie-up with RJD and LJP, has been maintaining that Paswan was only posturing and will not join NDA.

Party leader Shakeel Ahmed today said that he failed to understand how Paswan could join hands with BJP after walking out of NDA on Gujarat riots issue.