Paswan jumps onto Cong poll bandwagon, history-sheeters in tow

Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan today cast his lot with the RJD-Congress front, saying it would wrap up 30 of the 40 seats in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections.

On the home front, Paswan has much to worry about. The LJP has been inducting one history-sheeter after another. Within a week of Purnea MP and strongman Pappu Yadav joining the LJP, Suraj Bhan Singh, another history-sheeter, joined him today. Paswan introduced Singh, who is named in a string of criminal cases including murder, as a ‘‘revolutionary younger brother’’.

Pappu Yadav is accused in the murder of former CPI(M) MP Ajit Sarkar. Singh’s name figures in the murder of Braj Bihar Prasad, a state minister and a don himself. An Independent from Mokama, Singh has been close to Railway Minister Nitish Kumar.

A confident Paswan, however, said the anti-NDA front in Bihar would slice through the NDA tally. ‘‘The NDA will not cross double-digit,’’ he said.