Paswan meets Sonia over alliance formation in Bihar

Amid indications of unease between his party and RJD, LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan today met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi here to urge her to take the lead in finalising the alliance in Bihar as "clarity" was required on seat-sharing among the allies.

LJP sources said Paswan told Gandhi that his party will not talk to RJD chief Lalu Prasad on the issue of seat-sharing, reflecting the unease between the two parties.

Paswan, who was accompanied by his son and party's parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan, cautioned Gandhi that an alliance with RJD could hurt the party on the issue of corruption.

He asked Gandhi to ensure that LJP gets its due share of seats. Party sources said LJP would not contest any fewer than 10 seats.

The LJP chief asked Gandhi to take the lead in the matter, the sources said.

"There is a need to bring clarity about the issue of alliance in Bihar," Paswan said after the meeting with Gandhi.

His son and party's parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan said LJP's alliance with Congress is final and it was up to the latter to decide which other party will join in.

"The purpose of today's meeting was that there should be clarity on seat-sharing among the parties whosoever come together," he said.

LJP can make some compromise on 12 seats it had contested in Bihar in 2009 elections, he said. Congress was not part of RJD-LJP alliance that time.

The party has already given to AICC General Secretary in charge of Bihar C P Joshi a list of 10 seats it wants to contest. It includes nine of the 12 seats LJP had contested in 2009 where it came second. It had lost all seats.

Gandhi asked Chirag to finalise the matter with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. She told them that he should ask Joshi to clarify things at the earliest, he said.