Paswan seals alliance deal with BJP, to get 7 LS seats

Twelve years after it quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the Gujarat riots issue, the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) on Thursday stitched a pre-poll alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). LJP will fight seven of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar under the seat-sharing deal.

A beaming BJP President Rajnath Singh made this announcement at a news conference at his residence after another round of parleys by leaders of the two parties on seat-sharing in Bihar ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.  Singh said BJP would contest the remaining 33 seats in Bihar.

“I have full faith that this alliance between BJP and LJP will benefit NDA not only in Bihar but also in other states in the country,” he said. Singh said Paswan would meet party patriach L K Advani and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the next few days. The LJP supremo will also share the dais with Modi at the latter’s rally on March 3 in Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

Expressing confidence that the next government would be formed by NDA, Paswan said: “ As far as Modi ji is concerned, LJP is now a part of NDA and NDA has already declared Modi as its PM candidate.”

In 2002, Paswan parted ways with BJP by resigning as the coal minister from the NDA government, citing the Gujarat riots as the reason.