Ram Vilas Paswan issues warning against BJP: Is NDA losing one more ally?

Boss of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters that they (the BJP) need to change mass perception in terms of minorities and Dalits.

New Delhi, March 19: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is fast losing its friends, one at time, literally. On Monday, when the Narendra Modi government is likely to face its first no-trust motion in Parliament, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) might see the exit of one more party from the coalition.

On Sunday, one more NDA ally sounded alarm bells for the BJP after its head warned the saffron party to mend its ways. Boss of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters that they (the BJP) need to change mass perception in terms of minorities and Dalits.

"Aren't there secular leaders in the BJP? There are people like Sushil Kumar Modi and Ram Kripal Yadav. However, what happens is that their voices get suppressed and there are others whose voices get attention," Paswan was quoted as saying by ANI.

The LJP chief added that the leaders of the NDA should desist from making off-the-cuff remarks and be "more tactful" during election times. Paswan said that the results in Bihar bypolls were not surprising as the seats went to the incumbent party. However, it was in "neighbouring Uttar Pradesh where we received a shock". "The party lost both the seats despite running popular governments at the Centre and in the state," he was quoted as saying by NDTV.

The strongly-worded warning issued by Paswan against the BJP does not augur well for the NDA. Political analysts fear that the LJP might be the next alliance partner the NDA will lose.

Several of the Opposition parties have teamed up against the ruling regime at the Centre but the government has the numbers to sail through the no-trust motion. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress are hoping to get their no-trust motions against the government accepted in the Lok Sabha.

The country is witnessing hectic political activities after the TDP left the NDA over the grant of special category status to Andhra Pradesh and defeat of the BJP in three Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

There are also talks of a formation of a Third Front minus the BJP and the Congress. However, the Congress is confident that all the opposition parties against the BJP will unite under one umbrella before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

OneIndia News