New formula for govt in Bihar soon, says Paswan

Paswan, who holds the key to the government formation in Bihar, said, "I have a concrete, workable and practical proposal. I have to consult my MLAs. A meeting of the MLAs will be called soon to consider the proposal, after which I will release the proposal to political parties."

He, however, declined to divulge the details of the proposal. Paswan termed the next step his "first serious attempt" to form a government in Bihar.

Paswan said the government formed should be stable and that was why he was taking time. The impasse in Bihar could be broken as parties barring the RJD and the BJP could cobble together a majority. The RJD and the BJP account only for 112 members in the 243- member Assembly, he said.

Paswan reiterated that if the LJP had to join with the JD(U) to form a government in Bihar, the JD(U) should come out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and a Muslim should be the chief minister of the state.

"There is no compromise with the RJD or with the BJP. There is no question of joining with these two parties to form a government," he said.

He said there seemed to be a difference of opinion among the JD(U) on quitting the NDA. When Nitish Kumar submitted a common minimum programme for the formation of a government, he had told him "bluntly" that the JD(U) chief (George Fernandes) was attending NDA meetings, which had discussed the BJP's ideologies, construction of a Ram temple and Hindutva and hence he could not accept the proposal.

Asked whether it was possible to form a government with a lot of parties, Paswan said he was pondering over this aspect also. He said he was not in favour of fresh polls to Bihar Assembly.