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Poll blow to lower caste Indian leader By Edward Luce in New Delhi Published: February 27 2005 18:24 | Last updated: February 27 2005 18:24 Lalu Yadav, India's most prominent lower caste leader, on Sunday suffered his worst setback with his party able to win only a third of the seats in Bihar - India's poorest state that Lalu's party has ruled since 1990. The 15-year rule of Lalu, whose Rashtriya Janata Dal (State People's) party is the second-largest member of India's Congress-led coalition government, has become synonymous across India with maladministration and corruption. His party's effective defeat - although no other party is in a position to form a government - could potentially destabilise the precarious multiparty coalition in New Delhi. The RJD's seat tally fell from 115 in the 243-strong Bihar assembly to just 77. The opposition alliance led by India's Hindu nationalist BJP won 91 seats. The Congress party, which, although officially in alliance with Lalu, had unofficially campaigned against him, was only able to win 10 seats. Last night it was clear the balance of power lay with Ram Vilas Paswan, a leader of Bihar's Dalit, or untouchable, castes. To add to Sunday's messy outcome, Mr Paswan is also a member of India's coalition government but a bitter opponent of Lalu. Neither the BJP nor Lalu can come to office in Bihar without the support of Mr Paswan. "This is a situation of dynamic confusion," said Saeed Naqvi, a leading commentator, in New Delhi. "Lalu has lost the election but Congress may well force Mr Paswan to bring Lalu back to office in Bihar for the sake of stability in New Delhi." So strong is his disdain both for the BJP and Lalu, that Mr Paswan, who is also India's minister for steel, on Sunday called on New Delhi to impose "president's rule" on Bihar, which, with 80m people, is India's third-largest state. Under India's federal constitution, New Delhi can directly take control of a state if there is no clear government. However, such a move would almost certainly prompt Lalu, who is India's minister for railways, to leave, or threaten to leave, India's Congress-led government. Lalu's party has 24 seats in India's national parliament, which gives Congress the critical extra numbers to pass the halfway mark of 272. Furthermore Lalu, whom many hold responsible for permitting lawlessness to spread across Bihar, is already blaming Congress for his electoral defeat. "Lalu knows that Congress only pretended to be in alliance with him because it is embarrassed by association with what many see as his corrupt and criminalised administration," said a BJP spokesman. "Congress has gained nothing from its two-faced stance." Sunday's split verdict came just a day ahead of the Congress-led government's first full budget since it came to office last May, with the help both of Lalu and the outside support of the communist bloc of parties. P. Chidambaram, India's finance minister, is expected to announce aggressive measures to broaden the country's anaemic tax base. On Saturday, Lalu presented the annual railways budget to India's parliament. To the disappointment of industrialists, Lalu took no steps to unravel the "cross-subsidy" system, whereby rail freight charges are kept high to maintain low passenger fares. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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