Now, it8217;s Paswan8217;s turn to split Janata Dal

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30: After dithering for several months, Union Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today announced that he would sev...

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30: After dithering for several months, Union Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today announced that he would sever his links with the 8220;now dead8221; Janata Dal United on November 23. The party leadership, on its part, has virtually given up on him.

Addressing the media in Bhubaneswar today, Paswan said he would announce the formation of a new party, whose name had not been decided yet, at a rally in New Delhi. 8220;The party will be a part of the National Democractic Alliance and the Panchayati Raj polls in Bihar will be its first electoral test,8221; he added.

In New Delhi, JD U spokesman Mohan Prakash reflected a sense of helplessness. 8220;If he has decided to leave the party, how can we stop him?8221; he said. 8220;We8217;d have liked him to air his grievances in the party forum. But he has stayed away from all party activities in the last one year,8221; the JD U spokesperson added. JD U chief Sharad Yadav was unavailable for comment.

Paswan has been toying with the idea of floating his own party for quite some time now. He had fallen out with Yadav long time ago.

The Dalit Sena, a non-political organisation floated by him, had earlier this year passed a resolution asking him to go ahead by forming a separate political outfit.

The task of launching a new party has clearly been facilitated by Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi8217;s decision at the beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament to recognise the Samata Party as a separate entity, a decision which brought down the JD U strength in the lower house to 10.

In order to escape the provisions of the anti-defection law, Paswan needs thesupport of four of the 10 MPs. He enjoys the backing of only two MPs8211;his younger brother Ram Chandra Paswan and former Union Minister Jai Narain Prasad Nishad. Paswan has also been wooing former Union Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, who has the support of the two JD U MPs from Karnataka8211;Ramesh Jigajinagi and Shashi Kumar.

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Paswan8217;s efforts to chart his own course had suffered a setback when Ballia MP Ram Jiwan Singh switched over to the Sharad Yadav camp sometime back.

Making it clear that his intention was not to break the JD U, Paswan added that it was a painful8217; fact that during the last three years the party had virtually become defunct with no organisational polls being conducted. Unlike JD U, the new party, he claimed, will be a national entity with inner-party democracy. The party will also have a name that will be acceptable to all and the Dalit Sena, targeted to all the villages in the country by 2002, will only be a part of it.