Paswan wants to do a Mayawati in Bihar

Paswan wants to do a Mayawati in Bihar
DEVESH KUMAR

NEW DELHI, APRIL 30: Union Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan is all set to part ways with the Janata Dal (United) to float his own political party.

The Dalit leader from Bihar, who has been feeling stifled in the JD(U) for quite some time, is likely to form his party after the Budget session of Parliament. The name of the new outfit, which, his supporters claim, will be an umbrella organisation for Dalits, extremely backward classes (or the so-called annexure-I castes) and the forward castes, is yet to be decided.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Paswan refused to comment.

If and when Paswan breaks away, it'll be the umpteenth split in the Janata Dal and its variants. The JD(U) technically has 21 MPs in the Lok Sabha but the Samata Party, which claims the support of 11, had on January 20 urged Speaker G M C Balayogi to recognize it as a separate entity and allot separate seats to its MPs.

The Speaker is yet to give his ruling. ``We have asked JD(U) deputy leader Devendra Prasad Yadav to apprise us of his party's status, but he has not responded so far. The Samata Party too has, in the meanwhile done a rethink on its application,'' sources in the Lok Sabha secretariat said.

But Paswan-backers would have none of this and are learnt to be putting pressure on Balayogi to recognise the JD (U)-Samata split as that would facilitate their move to break away. In fact, Paswan is learnt to have spoken to the Speaker today urging him to allot separate seats to the Samata MPs.

Paswan's loyalists claim to have the support of four MPs. These include, besides Paswan himself, his younger brother Ram Chandra Paswan, former Union Minister Jai Narayan Prasad Nishad and JD (U)'s former Bihar unit chief Ram Jiwan Singh. They also claim to have the backing of four Samata Party MPs. ``But they are likely to join us only after the new party is formed,'' a close aide said.

Paswan's disillusionment with the JD (U) leadership was reflected in a resolution passed by the Dalit Sena -- an outfit owing allegiance to Paswan -- at its national convention here on April 22. It called for the formation of a new political party which could champion the cause of the Dalits and other weaker sections of the society.

The Communications Minister has had an uneasy relationship with JD (U) president Union Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav ever since Laloo Prasad Yadav broke away from the party in 1997 to form the Rashtriya Janata Dal. His supporters accuse Yadav of pursuing a course of ``Yadavisation.'' Matters came to head last month when the JD (U) chief refused to give the party symbol to former Union Minister Kamala Sinha for the Rajya Sabha elections from Bihar. He instead decided to back senior Supreme Court lawyer R K Anand.