Paswan appoints a Muslim to head LJP in Bihar

After his futile attempts to install a Muslim as Bihar chief minister, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan on Thursday appointed Ghulam Rasool Baliyavi as his party's Bihar unit chief.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi after announcing Baliyavi's appointment, Paswan ruled out any partnership with the National Democratic Alliance for the forthcoming assembly polls in Bihar.

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He said LJP will contest the Bihar election on an anti-NDA and anti-Rashtriya Janata Dal plank.

Ghulam Rasool Baliyavi replaces Narendra Singh, who was expelled from the party after he joined ranks with a group of rebels trying to prop up a NDA-led

government in Bihar.

Parrying questions about likely realignment of political forces in the state before the polls, he said his priority now is to strengthen the organisation and consolidate the Dalit-Muslim vote.

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Asked to comment on senior RJD leader and Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's allegation that rebel LJP MLAs were offered Rs 3 crore each and ministerial berths by the NDA, Paswan said he too has the same information.