NEW DELHI: Union food minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan has accused Lalu Prasad of lying about his "brave" step to arrest BJP veteran L K Advani in 1990 during the peak of Ayodhya movement. Paswan said the then chief minister was rather diffident about arresting Advani contrary to Lalu's claim of blocking BJP's "Rath Yatra" to prove his secular credential.

Talking to reporters at Press Club of India on Thursday, Paswan said Advani's arrest was well planned long back and then Prime Minister V P Singh had asked Lalu what to do. "He was to be arrested in Uttar Pradesh but then something happened….V P Singh told Lalu Prasad in the night that he had to arrest Advani. Lalu was diffident. He said that communal riots could break out, but Singh told him not to worry as arrangements were in place," Paswan said.

Lashing out at the alliance among Nitish Kumar's Janta Dal (United), Lalu Prasad's RJD and Congress, Paswan said that the assembly results will show them their place in state politics. He also attacked Kumar and RJD chief saying "none of them are messiah of Mandal politics."

He, however, acknowledged that caste plays key role in the state elections. Paswan said, had issues including development, education and other issues mattered in elections in Bihar, neither Lalu nor Nitish could have ruled for 15 and 10 years each.

Paswan also said that issues like Vyapam or Lalitgate would have no impact on Bihar assembly polls, though he expressed concern over the trail of deaths relating to the Vyapam scam.

The LJP chief also claimed that he is the only politician in the state whose vote bank is intact and it goes with him.