Under attack from opposition for projecting his brother Pashupati Kumar Paras as candidate for deputy chief ministership,LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan has said that he was open to appointment of a Muslim candidate for the post if the RJD-LJP combine comes to power. "We have remained irrevocably committed to the uplift of the Muslims in Bihar and elsewhere and therefore I am personally open to subscribe to any suggestion for making a Muslim as our alliance nominee for deputy chief minister," Paswan said on Saturday. However,Paswan said Paras,who is also the state LJP president,was a consensus candidate of the RJD-LJP alliance for the post. RJD president Lalu Prasad also reiterated Paswan's statement saying that the alliance was open to proposal of projecting a Muslim as a deputy chief minister. Paswan was under attack from political opponents,ruling NDA and the Congress in Bihar,which had accused Paswan of shifting from his earlier stand of making a Muslim as chief minister.
