Merge JD(U) with BJP: Paswan

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ramvilas Paswan today hit back at Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar asking him to "merge his party with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) instead of talking about secularism" and ruled out the possibility of the LJP coming out of the UPA.

"Instead of talking about secularism the JD(U) should merge with the BJP and the sooner it is done the better," Paswan told reporters on his arrival from New Delhi.

Kumar had yesterday said that all conditions, including severing ties with the BJP, put forth by Paswan for the formation of a government were acceptable if Paswan merged his party with the JD(U).

"All his conditions are acceptable. This includes even those conditions which have not been made public so far provided Paswan agrees to merge the LJP with the JD(U)," Kumar had told reporters in New Delhi yesterday.

Continuing his diatribe against Kumar, Paswan questioned the standing of Nitish in the JD(U) which, he claimed, was in the "grip of George Fernandes who would never break his ties with the BJP."

Accusing Kumar of riding two boats by talking of secularism on one hand and continuing relations with the BJP-led NDA, Paswan stuck to his old stand on maintaining equi-distance from the RJD and the BJP and claimed a government would be in place in Bihar in the next six months.

He refused to divulge the details about the talks he had with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi yesterday.

Castigating the JD(U) for trying to poach on LJP legislators, Paswan said, "Nobody will succeed in such a sinister mission. People should know that I am the steel minister and all the LJP legislators are made of steel who will never make any compromise on the party's stand."