We will fight polls on our own terms: Paswan

Union Minister and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan has said that his party will not ally with anyone in the next general elections, and will enter into any agreement only on its own terms.

Paswan, who commands roughly nine per cent of Dalit votes in Bihar and has swung elections in favour of the side that he allied with, is now warming up for a hard bargain with the Congress and RJD. “In 2004, LJP got eight seats as part of the arrangement. We were not given seats according to our strength. This time I will not repeat that mistake. I won’t even talk to anyone,” he said. He said the LJP-Congress-RJD alliance in Bihar had collapsed immediately after the May 2004 elections. “There were bypolls within a few months. Everyone was on their own. In Bihar there is no UPA,” Paswan said.

Accusing Lalu of trying to defeat him in the 2004 elections, Paswan said his strong anti-BJP positioning was taken as his lack of option then.