Grand alliance government will not last long, says Paswan

Patna, Nov 29: LJP supremo and Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan today said the grand alliance not long to collapse due to "ego clash" between the RJD and the JD(U) resulting in mid-term poll in Bihar.

"The GA government may have got a landslide mandate, but it will not last long due to 'ego clash' between the RJD and the JD(U) and a mid-term poll will follow," Paswan told reporters.

Asked what made him say so, the Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister said everyone knew of the contrasting styles of functioning of the RJD and the JD(U) and the strain between them would soon be visible.

Paswan, who presided over a review meeting of the poor performance of his party LJP, a constituent of the NDA, in the Bihar poll, in which it could win only two seats out of 41 it contested, said it was a wave in favour of the ruling alliance which tilted the balance.

The GA hugely benefitted from transfer of voters by the constituent parties to each other's candidates, though there was not a sizeable difference in the votes polled by the rival alliances with the ruling coalition getting about 1.70 crore votes against the NDA's 1.30 crore, the minister noted.

Paswan observed that cracks would soon appear in the alliance to negate all the gains it had made in the election.

He also flayed the Nitish Kumar government for doing little for the welfare of the dalit people in Bihar through the past decade and asked it to make public the funds spent for the downtrodden section, including those for construction of pucca roads for them, from the composite funds and tribal sub-plan.

Took exception to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's suggestion for inclusion of all dalit communities under the mahadalit umbrella, the LJP chief said he had serious objections to the Scheduled Caste people being dubbed as dalits or mahadalits as the Constitution has no terminology to identify the deprived sections.

"The dalit or mahadalit terminology being used for SC people will not stand the scrunity of law if somebody challenges it before a court," the Union minister felt. Paswan also demanded setting up of an All-India Judicial Services panel for recruitment of judges in various courts and reservation for the SC/ST and OBCs in the private sector.

PTI