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LJP to contest polls along with RJD, Congress
Shedding his discomfort with the RJD, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today announced that the two parties, along with Congress, will contest the next Lok Sabha elections jointly in Bihar.
Shedding his discomfort with the RJD, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday announced that the two parties, along with Congress, will contest the next Lok Sabha elections jointly in Bihar.
The three parties will now work out seat-sharing, he said.
"RJD-LJP and Congress will fight the next Lok Sabha polls together in Bihar. Now the talks among the three parties are only about the number of seats each of us will contest," he said.
He dismissed reports in the media about the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) apprehending losses by aligning with the RJD.
Paswan had earlier said there were two views within the LJP on whether to align with Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal or Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and that he had left this decision to Congress.
On Thursday, he said a view has gradually emerged that "it is this alliance of RJD-LJP and Congress" which can pose a formidable challenge to the BJP, which is a "communal force".
He met Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the second time in the past one month to discuss the issue of poll alliance in Bihar.
Paswan, accompanied by his son and LJP parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan, also made it clear to Gandhi that LJP, which had contested on 12 Lok Sabha seats, would like to contest on at least 10 seats.
