Paswan146;s will-won146;t drama

After 10, Janpath, it was the turn of 8, Janpath to attract attention today. The residence of Ram Vilas Paswan was the seat of crowd hysteri...

After 10, Janpath, it was the turn of 8, Janpath to attract attention today. The residence of Ram Vilas Paswan was the seat of crowd hysteria as even until half an hour before the swearing-in, the LJP chief refused to join the government as he had been denied the Railway Ministry. It was after around two hours of discussions with former PM V.P. Singh and AICC member Ahmed Patel that Paswan finally relented. This, however, was not before he was promised another prestigious portfolio 8212; dual charge of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilisers.

Trouble started when the party came to know about the decision of giving the Railway Ministry to RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav. 8216;8216;We got to know from TV in the morning,8217;8217; said Anil Kumar Sadhu, president of the party8217;s youth wing in Bihar, who threatened suicide if the party8217;s demands were not met.

Party office bearers said Paswan had gone to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to express his displeasure and had declined to take oath. Though supporters had started gathering outside his residence since morning, trouble started after a visibly upset Paswan returned from 10, Janpath.

His supporters insisted that their leader was being made a scapegoat to appease the RJD chief. Yadav, who was earlier said to be insisting on getting the Defence portfolio, had finally settled for Railways. Party leaders said this was an unexpected development for Paswan, who thought he was a possible choice, owing to his stint in the ministry earlier. 8216;8216;They are giving Railways as a berth to somebody who doesn8217;t even know what other places in the country are like. Ask him where is Kerala and he surely will be blank,8217;8217; said LJP general secretary R.G. James.

Things came around at 3 pm when Singh and Patel arrived at Paswan8217;s residence. It was Paswan8217;s brother Ram Chandra Paswan who finally announced that Paswan would take oath. 8216;8216;Hum kal bhi sarkar ke saath the, aaj bhi sarkar ke saath the We were with the government, yesterday and today,8217;8217; he said. A few minutes later, Paswan stepped out, with his wife Sita Devi and Singh. The slogans promptly changed to Sonia Gandhi Aasman, Ram Vilas Paswan.