Ram Vilas Paswan at the news meet in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, June 26: Any hope of a grand secular alliance against the BJP in Bihar received a jolt when LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today declared that under no circumstance will he have any sort of tie-up with the JD(U).

The Congress, however, amid growing bonhomie with the ruling JD(U), has left the door ajar for stitching an alliance with either party — be it RJD-LJP combine or JD(U) for next year’s general elections.

The lone LJP MLA in the Assembly, Jakir Hussain Khan, had boycotted voting in the confidence motion moved by chief minister Nitish Kumar on June 19, triggering speculation that the LJP, along with the Congress, may have an alliance in the next Lok Sabha polls. Even though Paswan’s political fortune has dipped, he still enjoys considerable influence over Paswan voters in the state. Paswan made it clear that his alliance with RJD continues. “Even if there is an alliance between the JD(U) and the Congress, I will not be a part of it”, he stressed.

Paswan, along with Lalu Prasad’s RJD, have been supporting the UPA government despite break-up of the alliance with Congress in the 2009 polls. The LJP, RJD and Congress had jointly contested the 2004 parliamentary elections with the partners winning 34 of the 40 seats in Bihar.

Paswan said: “By breaking the alliance with the BJP, JD(U) is trying to fool the people with an eye on minority votes.” Questioning Nitish Kumar’s secular credentials, Paswan said why didn’t the JD(U) part ways with BJP after the 2002 Godhra carnage as LJP did. The LJP chief also attacked Nitish for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and failing to provide relief materials to the Uttarakhand deluge victims.

Paswan said: “The Bihar government is not serious in rescuing the victims from Bihar in Kedarnath, while other states have started rescue operations for people of their states.”

The Congress, which was hopeful of bringing Paswan on board in the new alliance formed with Nitish Kumar reacted cautiously. Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president Ashok Choudhary termed the statement as ‘premature and irrelevant’. “It is irrelevant for us to make any comment as what the other political party is saying as we have not decided on the issue of alliance,” Choudhary told The Telegraph.

Even AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad, during his Patna visit on Saturday, dodged the issue of an alliance saying that any decision on alliance would be taken by the A.K Antony Committee.

Union minority affairs minister K. Rahman Khan too chose to go soft on the Nitish dispensation vis-à-vis non-implementation of minority welfare schemes in the state. Khan, who was welcomed at Sadaquat Ashram by hundreds of party workers, said the Centre would create its own separate agencies for monitoring the minority welfare schemes both at central and state levels.