Are you with us or not, Cong asks Paswan

The Congress today served notice on Ramvilas Paswan: Tell us by 23 September whether you are with us or not. Otherwise, consider yourself out of the secular alliance in Bihar.

Paswan, who met Congress President Sonia Gandhi for an hour, is reported to have tried to persuade the Congress to jettison Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal and get into an electoral alliance with his Lok Janashakti Party. But the Congress sent him away disappointed.

Asked about Paswan's insisting on an 'anti-RJD, anti-BJP formulation' for the coming polls, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh, who is incharge of Congress affairs in Bihar, shot back: "You tell me, is it viable?"

Singh merely said it was not for him but for the UPA to decide whether Paswan could remain in the alliance at the Centre if he failed to be with it in Bihar. Just two days ago, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury had asked Paswan to give up his position in the central council of ministers if he was going to play spoilsport in Bihar and side against the RJD.

Asked if the Congress was exasperated with Paswan and tired of trying to rope him in the UPA in Bihar, Singh said it was not so. "One has to have patience. The Congress president has immense patience," he said. He also saw no merit in Paswan's insistence on a Muslim chief minister, saying it was an issue which could be decided only after the polls.

Paswan later told reporters at his residence that he apprised Gandhi of the political situation in Bihar and stuck to his demand for a Muslim chief minister. "I told her that if RJD could float the name of Rabri Devi as the chief ministerial candidate and NDA could name Nitish Kumar, then why is my demand for a Muslim chief minister being dubbed unrealistic," he said, adding Congress should think of long-term gains rather than limiting itself to state election.

Meanwhile, the NDA today said it has already finalised its campaign strategy for the Bihar elections. According to party general secretary and Bihar elections incharge Arun Jaitley, the focus of the campaign would be the identification of the RJD's rule with the governor's rule.

"Apart from that, our slogan would be pandrah saal bura haal, Nitish Kumar ko thos bahumat abki baar (fifteen years of RJD misrule, give a decisive majority to NDA's chief ministerial aspirant Nitish Kumar)," he said. "Our aim is also to tap into the anger felt by a large section of the people who voted for an end to RJD rule," he added.

Nitish Kumar is also going to launch a campaign blitzkrieg by visiting all 243 assembly constituencies, some of them for the second time. His nyaya yatra has already covered much of the state. "The only problems in seat adjustment we see are in those won by LJP in the last polls, as most LJP MLAs have now come over to the Janata Dal (U)," said Jaitley.