Paswan announces office-bearers

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 30. The Janshakti leader, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, today announced the list of his office-bearers.

While Mr. Paswan will be the party president, Mr. Abdul Gafoor, former MP and erstwhile Bihar Chief Minister, will be the national vice-president. Capt. Jai Narayan Prasad Nishad, MP and a Minister in the erstwhile United Front government, will be the chairman of the parliamentary board, while Mr. Ramesh Jigajinagi, MP, will be the secretary general. Dr. (Ms.) Chitra Singh, will be the general secretary.

Mr. Paswan claimed that the new party will soon attract more politicians not only from JD(U) but also from the Congress Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Several district level presidents and other office-bearers had already ``contacted him and would be joining the party soon''.

To show his strength in the new State of Jharkhand, Mr. Paswan has announced a mass public rally ``of at least one lakh persons'' on January 8.

The immediate result of the split in the JD(U) was that almost the entire JD(U) unit in Delhi has walked over to the Janshakti. ``Of a total of 35 office-bearers, 32 have joined the new party,'' Mr. Paswan said, even as he introduced the new members to the press.

The enthusiastic president of the Delhi unit of the JD(U), Mr. Satish Yadav, who has now joined the Janshakti, charged that under Mr. Sharad yadav the party had ``moved away from its principles'' and that ``we will finish the JD(U) in Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar and elsewhere.''

Although Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal will continue to be Janshakti's main target in Bihar, the fight with the JD(U) within the NDA cannot be avoided.

But first, Mr. Paswan will concentrate on strengthening his own party and putting into place a party organisation, he said denying a suggestion that his party will be coordinating with the Samata Party, presumably to ``finish'' JD(U).

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