No patch-up with Lalu in near future: Paswan

PATNA: Rubbishing as speculative the report that a rapprochement between him and archrival Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Lalu Prasad was in the offing, Lok Janshakthi Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday said there was no question of a patch-up between the two in the near future.

"Where is the question of a patch-up between us. RJD President met me in parliament seeking our support in the wake of the recent spurt in atrocities on Dalits, particularly their women, in Bihar.

Since we shared his perception, we lent support and the matter ended there," Paswan said before leaving for New Delhi this morning.

"There is no change in my stand of maintaining equi-distance with both RJD and the BJP-led NDA. We can come together on some issues of people's concern, but nothing like forming a front or effecting an alliance," Paswan asserted.

Prasad, a cabinet colleague of Paswan in the Centre's UPA government in which the latter is Steel and Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister, had said on August 26 that he had shaken hands with the Dalit leader on the question of gangrape of Dalit women in Lakhisarai district and that in the future also they would work together in the interest of the poor and the downtrodden.

"Look, I don't have any personal animosity with Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister. The state's NDA government should check atrocities on Dalits and other poor sections and general crime which it had promised. This is all we want," Paswan maintained.