Jamui (Bihar), Apr 12 : In the first direct attack on the RJD and LJP, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday claimed that the leaders had formed the 'Fourth Front' with "an eye on the chair" and were critical of her party though they were sharing power with it at the Centre.

"These days it has become fashionable to launch fronts. Third Front, Fourth Front, there can be many more coming. All these fronts are formed with an eye on the chair, nothing
else," she said addressing an election meeting here.

"Several such fronts were born in the past and faded away. Do any of these fronts have the guts to fight communalism, poverty and terror? Have they been able to ever open a front like the Congress against these menaces? These fronts have no vision for running governments," she said.

"They share power with the Congress and also criticise it. There are as many leaders as there are parties. And, as many candidates for prime ministership," she said, in an
apparent reference to RJD chief Lalu Prasad and LJP president Ramvilas Paswan's prime ministerial ambitions.

"The country cannot run like this. Manmohan Singh is one PM who is capable, experienced and a visionary. He has the ability to take all sections together to provide stability to the government," Sonia said.

Lucknow : In a bid to expand its presence beyond the boundaries of Bihar and make a dent in BSP’s traditional dalit vote bank in Uttar Pardesh, the Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP is likely to field 15 candidates in this state, which sends 80 MPs to the Parliament.

“The party has decided to field 15 candidates in the state and has already declared its candidates from five Lok Sabha constituencies,” LJP spokesperson for UP, Rajkumar Ojha said.

Asked if the party will go out all alone in the polls in UP, Ojha said, “The possibility of fighting the elections under the banner of National Dalit Front (NDF) is not being ruled out and a decision on this will be taken soon.

“If the elections are contested under the banner of NDF, then we might fight on at least 20-30 seats in UP,” the LJP leader said.

The NDF, led by Paswan, is a front formed in 2008 to make a dent on Mayawati’s Dalit vote bank and it comprises the LJP, Indian Justice Parties (Udit Raj) and Republican Party of India (A) led by Ramdas Athavale.

Lucknow, Mar 23 : In a bid to expand its presence beyond the boundaries of Bihar and make a dent in BSP's traditional dalit vote bank in Uttar Pardesh, the Ramvilas Paswan's LJP is likely to field 15 candidates in this state, which sends 80 MPs to the Parliament.

"The party has decided to field 15 candidates in the state and has already declared its candidates from five Lok Sabha constituencies," LJP spokesperson for UP, Rajkumar Ojha told PTI.

Asked if the party will go out all alone in the polls in UP, Ojha said, "The possibility of fighting the elections under the banner of National Dalit Front (NDF) is not being ruled out and a decision on this will be taken soon.

"If the elections are contested under the banner of NDF, then we might fight on at least 20-30 seats in UP," the LJP leader said.

The NDF, led by Paswan, is a front formed in 2008 to make a dent on Mayawati's Dalit vote bank and it comprises the LJP, Indian Justice Parties (Udit Raj) and Republican Party of India (A) led by Ramdas Athavale.

22 Mar : Lalu has said that alliance with Paswan’s LJP in Bihar is final while RJD is to contest all 3 sitting Congress seats and the JD(U) announced the list of 25 seats in the state.Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Lalu said that regional parties have their own identities and without them no government can be formed at the centre.

He also said that RJD will field its candidate from Aurangabad, Madhubani and Sasaram Lok sabha seats where Congress has sitting MPs.The UPA alliance suffered a set back in Bihar on Saturday when Congress announced that it will contest 37 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress announced 22 seats from Bihar fielding Sadhu Yadav, controversial brother-in-law of Lalu Prasad, from Paschim Champaran.Former RJD leaders Ramai Ram, Girdhari Yadav and Hind Kesari Yadav were also nominated in the 22 candidates list .