No official proposal from Congress for joining ministry: Ramvilas Paswan

LJP president Ramvilas Paswan today clarified that he had received no official proposal from the Congress to join the Union cabinet.

"It is nothing but speculative -  the reports of my joining the government... I wish to make it clear that there is no proposal from the Congress to this effect," Paswan told a press conference.

"Of course, I received calls from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and its leader Ahmed Patel in New Delhi... it was just a courtesy call... Both Sonia Gandhi and Patel congratulated me on my birthday without any word on joining the cabinet," Paswan said.

The LJP leader said he would play the role of opposition along with RJD and would raise the issues concerning Bihar in Rajya Sabha along with the RJD.

Asked whether he saw conspiracy behind raking up his name
as a possible contender for cabinet berth, Paswan said, "I can't ditch RJD for any other cause... the situation has brought the two parties closer to fight against the misrule of the Nitish Kumar government."

Claiming that RJD-LJP combine would pull off spectacular
performance in assembly elections later this year by winning
2/3rd seats in Bihar, he said the contentious issue of
seat-sharing between the two parties would be finalised
"within a week" before formal launch of joint campaign on July
16 by Lalu Prasad and him.

"Leaders, including the state presidents of both the parties -- Abdul Bari Siddiqui (RJD) and Pashupati Paras (LJP) will begin the seat-sharing exercise tomorrow which will conclude in next seven days," he said.

On whether he felt that Congress was "a potential rival" for the RJD-LJP in Bihar, Paswan said there would be direct contest between the alliance and NDA nominees.

"Congress is contesting the elections for its revival... it is not contesting for forming the government. But we are contesting the elections for forming the government to live up to people's expectations," he said.

Taking a potshot at JD(U) and BJP which patched up after their recent tiff, Paswan said the drama, which was "stage-managed" to confuse people of Bihar ahead of assembly polls, was still going on and was evident from the clash between two parties activists over BJP workers carrying posters of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
    
Paswan said JD(U) national president Sharad Yadav was keen on sharing dais with his BJP counterpart Nitin Gadkari and alleged that Gadkari was a RSS man.

He added that Kumar was "playing with sentiments of Muslims in Bihar by showing opposition to Modi."