Hajipur, Oct. 23: The question on the minds of most minority voters in Bihar is how Ram Vilas Paswan will honour his promise of a Muslim chief minister for the state.

“Paswan has been crying hoarse that he will install a Muslim chief minister in Bihar. But his Lok Janshakti Party did not get even a single Muslim MLA in the polls seven months back. And there is hardly any possibility of any of his party’s Muslim nominees winning in the ongoing polls, too.

“Then, where will he get a Muslim to make a chief minister?” asked Md Habib of Sarai in the Lalganj Assembly constituency in north Bihar.

The region north of the Ganga is believed to be a stronghold of Paswan, who himself represents Hajipur in the Lok Sabha. A sizeable section of the Muslims moved away from the Rashtriya Janata Dal and voted for the LJP in February, as they perceived him and his party as a “secular alternative” to the Laloo Prasad Yadav-Rabri Devi regime.

“But Paswan neither succeeded in forming a secular government on his own nor did he allow Laloo Prasad and Rabri Devi to form the government,” said Md Subhan. “We will give Laloo Prasad’s RJD one more chance.”

Subhan and others at the Adarsh tailoring shop in Sarai, a minority-dominated area on the Hajipur-Muzaffarpur road, apparently no longer believe that Paswan will be able to provide a “secular alternative” in the state.

It is not that the minoritiesare very happy with the Laloo Yadav-Rabri Devi regime. They complain of their “neglect” at the cost of the Yadavs. “But we have no way out other than opting for the lantern symbol of the RJD against the National Democratic Alliance, at least at this stage,” said Hasan Ansari.

Many members of the minority community expressed their “sympathy” for Paswan and his LJP. They also get emotional when at his election meetings, Paswan reminds them of his “sacrifice” of quitting the A.B. Vajpayee-led government on the Godhra issue.

“But how can we bank on him when it comes to defeating the NDA?” one of them asks in the run-up to the second phase of polling scheduled to take place in the Muzaffarpur, Hajipur and Samastipur regions on October 26.

If the response of the minorities and a section of upper castes who preferred Paswan over the NDA in the last polls is any indication, the LJP chief stands marginalised in north Bihar. His party had won 29 seats in the last polls.

But apparently sensing that the LJP is yet to cover a long distance in finding the “space” away from the NDA and the RJD-led combine, 20 of Paswan’s MLAs joined the Janata Dal (United), which has offered symbols to all of them.

Most of these Dal (U) nominees in 20 seats in the Muzaffarpur-Vaishali region appear to be locked in a “straight” contest with the nominees of the RJD-Congress combine.

“We will not take a chance this time by voting for Paswan’s party despite his good intentions. We will vote for the NDA to ensure the defeat of the Laloo?Rabri regime,” said Shankar Thakur, an upper caste Bhumihar at Hajipur.

The obvious “marginalisation” of Paswan’s LJP has resulted in a virtual straight battle between the NDA and the RJD?Congress combine. But the LJP nominees are causing damage to both primarily because of voting on caste lines.