For a Dalit PM,Im better than Mayawati,says Paswan

Union Minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan has said that if an issue of making a Dalit Prime Minister arose after the Lok Sabha polls then he,and not BSP chief Mayawati.....

Union Minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan has said that if an issue of making a Dalit Prime Minister arose after the Lok Sabha polls then he,and not BSP chief Mayawati,would be a fit and credible candidate for the post. Paswan said this in an interview to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV’s Walk the Talk programme.

Asked whether he would support the candidature of Mayawati if she gets an opportunity to become India’s first Dalit Prime Minister,Paswan said: If it is a question of a Dalit becoming the Prime Minister then why not Ram Vilas Paswan? I have had a spotless career. Nobody can dare to accuse me of corruption. I have turned around every ministry that I have handled since 1989. At the same time,however,Paswan added that there was no vacancy for the top post as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was set to be re-elected.

Asked about the leadership capacity of Mayawati and whether he had any kind of association with her in the past,Paswan castigated the BSP chief. “She has no capacity as a leader. She is lording over whatever Kanshi Ram had built,” Paswan said,adding that he knew Kanshi Ram.

Praising Manmohan Singh,the Dalit leader said that he was the UPA’s Prime Ministerial candidate and that a Congress-led government was set to be formed once again at the Centre after the polls. The writing on the wall is very clear that the UPA would come to power once again. There is no hope for the NDA as is it is already disintegrating, he said.

Rejecting the prospect of a Third Front government,Paswan said that it would crumble before the polls under the pulls and pressures of the diverse forces it is made up of. He hoped that given a choice between the UPA and the NDA,the Left would come around to back the UPA if its support was needed after the polls.

Paswan,however,skipped a query as to whether the Congress would support a Third Front PM and said that such a situation would not arise as the UPA would come to power on its own.