National

RJD should not be invited to form Bihar government: NDA

By Our Special Correspondent

PATNA, MARCH 1. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) today sought to buy time for forming the next government in Bihar.

Following the footsteps of the Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) also wrote to the Governor, Buta Singh, and said that it would support neither the RJD nor the NDA. The LJP and the CPI(ML) have 29 and seven MLAs in the 243-member Assembly.

The Samajwadi Party has also announced that it would not support either of the two formations.

The NDA sought to make common cause with the LJP in stalling the RJD from staking its claim to form the government after Rabri Devi was re-elected as the legislature party leader at a meeting here today.

A delegation of the NDA called on Mr. Singh and urged him not to invite the RJD. They said that the NDA, which had 92 MLAs, the LJP and the CPI(ML) were against the RJD forming the government. Thus, at least 128 MLAs were against the formation of an RJD-led government, they claimed.

The delegation, led by Nand Kishore Yadav, Gopal Narain Singh and Bijendra Prasad Yadav, told the Governor that the NDA would stake its claim to form the government in due course of time. However, they were unable to state when the NDA would elect its leader or when they intended to stake their claim. They said that a new political alignment was in the offing and a clear picture would emerge in the next couple of days.

Lalu confident

The RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, told reporters after the legislature party meeting that he would consult all secular parties before staking claim to form the government. He made it clear that his party was in no hurry to do so.

The party authorised Mr. Prasad to hold talks with all concerned. Mr. Prasad said he was in touch with the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and that he had received letters of support from national parties, the names of which he declined to specify.

He claimed that he had the numbers and that the RJD would form the next government. If he failed to prove the RJD's majority, it would sit in the Opposition.

Mr. Prasad said it was the duty of the Governor to invite the largest party to form the government, a precedent followed even in the case of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As a democratic party, the RJD was not in favour of President's rule.

He charged that all parties had aligned against him and that the Election Commission and the paramilitary forces had also worked against him.

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