Patna,(BiharTimes): After losing a large number of Muslim leaders, including its lone MLA in the Bihar Assembly, the Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday said that his party had not merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party but had only joined the National Democratic Alliance as per a Common Minimum Programme.

A few days after joining NDA he said in New Delhi that it was the secular parties like RJD, Congress and Janata Dal (United), which did not favour his demand for a Muslim chief minister after the February 2005 Assembly election.

Paswan conceded that Muslims have strong reservations about BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, but reiterated that his party’s commitment to secularism, socialism and social justice remains unchanged.

He once again clarified that the alliance with BJP took place because there was no option left “for us” after Congress and RJD “humiliated” his party.

He said the parliamentary board of LJP asked him whether his personal emotions were more important than the interests of the party.