http://www.indian-express.com/ie/daily/20001129/ina29033.html
NEERJA CHOWDHURY

NEW DELHI, NOV 28: Guess who is the biggest client of the Indian Railways? The latest bumper cheque to Rail Bhavan has come from none other than former railways minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

It is a sum of Rs 60 lakh, a down-payment for requisitioning eight trains. The trains brought in Paswan's supporters from all parts of Bihar to the Capital for today's rally of the leader, where he announced his new party, the Jana Shakti. The Capital was plastered with posters, banners, hoardings on him and the new outfit he has floated.

Paswan hopes his party would upstage Dalit leaders like Kanshi Ram, who has lost his elan and is ageing; Mayawati, whose appeal is limited to the plains of Uttar Pradesh; RPI leader Prakash Ambedkar, who has become predictable; R.S. Gavai, who looks jaded; and even the young and upcoming Mukul Wasnik and Selja Kumari because ``they are in the wrong company''. The field then would be wide open for Paswan.

With Paswan breaking away from the Janata parivar to branch out on his own, the mutation of the Janata Dal is complete. The old Janata parivar is now splintered into a dozen nuclear families, headed by Sharad Yadav, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Om Prakash Chautala, Chandra Shekhar, George Fernandes, H.D. Deve Gowda, Ajit Singh and Naveen Patnaik. The parent body stands shrivelled and shrunk, with only memories of the old glory to keep it going. Some of its members were even invited to the launch today by Paswan