Under attack from opposition for projecting his brother Pashupati Kumar Paras as candidate for deputy chief ministership, LJP supremo, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, has said that he was open to appointment of a Muslim candidate for the post if the RJD-LJP combine comes to power. "We have remained irrevocably committed to the uplift of the Muslims in Bihar and elsewhere and therefore I am personally open to subscribe to any suggestion for making a Muslim as our alliance nominee for deputy chief minister," Paswan said on Saturday. However, Mr Paswan said Paras, who is also the state LJP president, was a consensus candidate of the RJD-LJP alliance for the post. RJD president Lalu Prasad also reiterated Paswan's statement saying that the alliance was open to proposal of projecting a Muslim as a deputy chief minister. Paswan was under attack from political opponents, ruling NDA and the Congress in Bihar, which had accused Paswan of shifting from his earlier stand of making a Muslim as chief minister.