Paswan regrets going alone in 2005 Bihar polls

With the RJD-LJP alliance bagging eight out of 18 seats in the recent assembly bypolls in Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday said Nitish Kumar would not have been the Chief Minister had LJP, RJD and Congress fought elections together in 2005.

With the RJD-LJP alliance bagging eight out of 18 seats in the recent assembly bypolls in Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday said Nitish Kumar would not have been the Chief Minister had LJP, RJD and Congress fought elections together in 2005.

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Paswan said it was only because of his party's decision to go alone that Kumar got the advantage of forming the NDA government in the state.

"Nitish Kumar would not have been the chief minister, had the LJP aligned with the RJD and Congress in the last assembly polls," he told reporters in Patna.

LJP has bagged three assembly seats out of the 18 seats which went into bypolls last week. Its alliance partner RJD won five seats while Congress got two seats.

Buoyed by his party's success, Paswan claimed that no government formation would be possible in the state without his support after the next year's assembly elections.

"LJP has emerged in Bihar as a major political power... And I can firmly say that no government in Bihar (after 2010 assembly polls) can be possible without our support," he said.

The LJP, a constituent in the UPA-I but parted ways ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, had suffered major setback in the polls with Paswan himself losing his Hajipur seat in Bihar.

However, the party wants to enter into an alliance with the Congress and RJD to contest the 2010 Assembly polls in Bihar and the Jharkhand assembly polls due early next year.