Digvijay meets Paswan, LJP chief adamant

As part of his efforts to avoid a split in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) vote-bank in poll-bound Bihar, Congress pointsman Digvijay Singh today met Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and Union Chemicals Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and discussed the political situation in the state.

"I had basically come to see Paswan after his angioplasty. But we discussed some politics also. This was our first meeting and there will be many more," he told reporters after an hour-long meeting with the LJP chief.

Evading repeated questions regarding the nature of talks, the senior Congress leader said he had conveyed his views to Paswan and described the interaction as "preliminary".

Paswan, on his part, said he only listened to Singh and did not do much talking under medical advice. He also declined to answer questions from mediapersons about the meeting except that he stood by his non-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stand.

Paswan has said he will strive for a secular front minus the RJD to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Assembly elections due later this year. He had identified the CPI and the CPI(ML) as possible like-minded allies and had even spoken about the Samajwadi Party.

Incidentally, CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan is likely to meet Paswan tomorrow.

Digvijay Singh has already held two rounds of talks with RJD supremo and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for a smooth seat-sharing among the UPA partners to prevent split in anti-NDA votes. His meeting with Paswan today was part of that exercise.

Earlier, the CPI(M) on July 19 had advised Paswan to quit the UPA if he was not prepared to fight the coming Bihar Assembly elections with its coalition partners against the NDA.

"If the LJP is not prepared to fight alongside other UPA partners against the NDA in the Assembly elections, it should come out of the UPA and lend its issue-based support from outside. There is no point in remaining in the UPA and fighting the polls against its constituents," CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechuri told reporters in Patna.

He was responding to reporters' queries on the LJP president's oft-repeated stand that the UPA did not exist in Bihar and if the CPI(M) can fight elections against the Congress in West Bengal while supporting the Congress-led government at the Centre, why cannot the LJP do the same in Bihar.

"We are supporting the UPA government from outside on the issue of secularism, but Paswan's party is a constituent of the Centre's ruling alliance. There is no ideology in Paswan's remaining a member of the UPA Cabinet and fighting against its constituents in Bihar," he said.