NEW DELHI, 23 May 2005 — Faced with rampant dissidence in his recently floated Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Bihar, Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan yesterday began rallying loyalists while initiating efforts to form a government in the state with the Congress party.

He hopes to stymie the government formation efforts of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) with the support of rebel LJP legislators. And he also agreed to a Congress proposal to support a United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in Bihar that would include the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of his archrival, Railway Minister Lalu Yadav.

Harikesh Bahadur, senior Congress leader in charge of Bihar, who held discussions with Paswan on government formation, said he expected a decision soon.

“Things are under consideration. We are looking at forming a UPA government and views will be elicited from all UPA partners,” Bahadur said.

“I have no objection whether the RJD gives support from inside or outside as long as the chief minister is a Muslim,” Paswan said, marking a climb down from the days when he insisted on maintaining equidistance from the RJD and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is an ally of the JD-U.

The new development came as 13 rebel LJP legislators were preparing to prop up a JD-U government in Bihar. The LJP has a total of 29 legislators in the Bihar Assembly.

Paswan paraded 10 legislators, three of whom were flown in from Patna, yesterday. He also claimed the support of three more legislators.

The LJP legislators are unhappy that Paswan has been unable to decide on whom to support in Bihar. They say they are ready to split the party if he does not support JD-U’s Nitish Kumar as chief minister. LJP heavyweight Munna Shukla has also publicly declared his support to Nitish kumar.

In Jharkhand, the rebel LJP legislators claimed they had the numbers to help form a government led by the JD-U.

On Saturday, a senior LJP leader claimed that nearly 19 LJP legislators were “holding talks” with JD-U leaders. He also claimed that out of four LJP legislators who are lodged in different jails in the state, three are in support of a Nitish-led government in Bihar. The rebel group needs 20 legislators to avoid the Anti-Defection Law

The JD-U has 55 seats and the BJP 37 in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. “We will form the government under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. We have adequate numbers,” dissident LJP legislator Anil Singh said.

Rubbishing Bihar Governor Buta Singh’s charge that the LJP legislators had been bought off by the JD-U, Anil said: “Buta Singh should either prove the charge of horse trading or resign.”

Meanwhile, police tightened security in and around Raj Bhawan in Patna yesterday on the orders of Buta Singh, officials said.

At a time when a fresh move is on to form a government in Bihar in the wake of a possible split in the LJP, the sudden decision to boost security at the governor’s residence has given rise to speculations that Buta Singh may take some tough decisions.

Police officials said personnel of Patna district police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) were deployed in large numbers. All roads leading to the Raj Bhawan were sealed and vehicles were being searched in the high security zone.

However, the officials refused to disclose why the security had been tightened. — Additional input from IANS.