Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav, who fell out with each other following a split in JD(U), on Thursday shared a common platform and pledged to work together signalling a new alignment of forces belonging to the erstwhile Janata parivar. Also to join hands with them was UP minister Ashok Yadav, who has been critical of the Rajnath Singh governmennt`s move to carve out a separate job quota for the most backward castes.
Paswan said his Lok Jana Shakti party and JD(U) headed by Sharad Yadav needed to come together to fight for the uplift of the dalits and the poorer sections of the society.
The two leaders were recently shifted from high profile communications and civil aviation ministries in the Vajpayee government to comparatively less important coal and mines and labour ministries respectively. “Our aim is the same, working for the poor,” said Paswan paying homage to a local leader.
As during the Mandal years, we two need to work together for the uplift of the socially oppressed classes as our fight is for social causes and is also an ideological one, he added.
The two leaders said they had always been together and would continue to be with each other in the future. Bureau Report