NEW DELHI, 3 April 2005 — As parties opposed to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have started afresh efforts to form a government in Bihar, the RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav sees neither sincerity nor strength in their efforts. “They are just fooling the people of Bihar,” he said.
Lalu said, “Several people are claiming majority in Bihar assembly. It’s total eyewash. I want to tell the BJP, JD(U) and LJP to form the government, if they can. We are ready to sit in the opposition.”
Referring to JD(U)’s call to anti-RJD forces to join hands together and form the government, Lalu said: “Why can’t they? They failed to do that even after the assembly results were out while ours was the only party which staked a claim to form a government in the state though we were not given the chance.”
“Let those, who are claiming that the mandate was against RJD, form the government,” he said, adding “however, it would be better if Ram Vilas Paswan joins JD(U).”
But a senior RJD leader and union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh thinks said that fresh elections in Bihar were just a matter of time. He also claimed no party was in a situation to form a government in Bihar.
“At the end of the sixth month of the president’s rule in Bihar, the state will undergo another election because no party or parties will be in a position to form a new government in Bihar,” Raghuvansh said.
Shifting his focus to Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Raghuvansh said that even if a government is formed with the help of Paswan’s 29 MLAs, it would not survive for long because of the criminal elements in the party. “The kind of people he has amassed will see the LJP disintegrating in a matter of days,” the RJD leader said.
Raghuvansh also took a dig at the president’s rule in Bihar saying that there has been no visible progress or development in the state.
