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Paswan's new party by year-end

Union Communication Minister and Dalit Sena president Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday announced that he would float a new political party towards the end of this year.

Addressing a press conference in Bhubaneswar, Paswan said the new party would remain part of the National Democratic Alliance government. The party would participate in the panchayat elections in Bihar, he said, and hoped it would win more than sixty per cent of the seats.

He denied the proposed party would erode the vote bank of the alliance parties, like the Bharatiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal, by wooing away their Dalit supporters.

Paswan said he thought of forming a new party as the Janata Dal (United) as a party had become dead. Its office-bearers have not met for the last three months and internal elections have not been held for quite some time, he pointed out.

Paswan said he planned to have an unit of the Dalit Sena and its students wing, Dalit Student Sena, in each village by 2002.

Asked who would be the first chief minister of the newly created Jharkhand state, Paswan said he was not concerned about that. He was only keen that the NDA form the government and that the financial package for Bihar be properly utilised, he said.

UNI

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