Paswan challenges Akhilesh, Mayawati to declare a Muslim as CM

The Lok Janshakti Party, an NDA ally, on Saturday dismissed the SP-BSP tie-up in Uttar Pradesh as opportunistic and challenged Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati to declare a Muslim as the chief ministerial candidate in the assembly polls there.

Both SP and BSP care only for their own interests. They have joined hands in the name of safeguarding the interests of the minorities, but actually they are not confident of taking on the BJP on their own steam," LJP founding president and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.

"If they (SP, BSP) are so concerned about the minorities let them declare a Muslim as the chief ministerial candidate when the next assembly polls are held," he told reporters here.

Paswan asserted that the LJP, as also Chief Minister Nitish Kumars JD(U) have maintained an independent position on issues like Article 370, Ayodhya and the Uniform Civil Code despite being in the BJP-led NDA and sought to dismiss misgivings about interests of the lower castes and ...