New Delhi, July 14: LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today said his party’s alliance with Lalu Prasad’s RJD was intact but left the option open for re-forging a partnership with the Congress, stressing unity of secular forces.

Paswan said the LJP national executive, a meeting of which was held here today, had decided to continue its alliance with the RJD, but would also strive for an alliance with like-minded parties like the Congress and the Left to strengthen the secular forces.

In recent times, leaders of the two parties were seen striving separately to build bridges with the Congress. Lalu Prasad met Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier this month in the hope of securing a berth at the Centre while Paswan had urged Rahul Gandhi to visit Forbesganj. The efforts have not yielded the desired results so far but nonetheless their attempts are on.

Paswan backed the UPA government over the confrontation with the Anna Hazare-led social activists, saying the Centre must deal with the issue firmly. “There is no space for framing of law outside Parliament. LJP urges the government to remain firm and uphold the dignity of Parliament,” he said.

The LJP boss supported chief minister Nitish Kumar’s demand for grant of special state status to Bihar, but criticised him for ignoring it when the NDA was in power. “Nitish Kumar, as a minister in the NDA government, did not take any steps over the demand for special state status after the bifurcation of Bihar in 2000,” Paswan said. Nitish has revived the issue only for political gains to cover his failures on the development front, the LJP leader alleged.

Paswan said Bihar deserves special status tag but held the chief minister responsible for being deprived so far.