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Monday, May 18, 2009
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Front Page

Lalu to continue support to UPA

K. Balchand

“It is the prerogative of the Congress to choose its allies”

— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

BACK HOME: RJD chief Lalu Prasad is welcomed by his family members in New Delhi on his arrival from Patna on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday professed his support for the United Progressive Alliance, but was evasive on his participation in the next government at the Centre.

On his arrival here from Patna with a rather depleted strength, Mr. Prasad scotched rumours that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had phoned him up and set the record straight by stressing that he had phoned Ms. Gandhi to congratulate her on the UPA’s success in the elections.

Mr. Prasad maintained that he was still part of the UPA and declared his continued support to the next government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “I had always said that Dr. Singh would be the next Prime Minister and had reposed faith in Ms. Gandhi.”

The RJD chief said it was for the Congress to form the next government and his party would extend whatever kind of support it needed. He was reluctant to go into the formation of the next government saying it was the job of the Congress.

Asked whether the RJD would be part of the next government, Mr. Prasad said it was the prerogative of the Congress to choose its allies.

“Mission accomplished”

Mr. Prasad said he, along with Mulayam Singh and Ram Vilas Paswan, had accomplished the mission to defeat the communal forces. The RJD, along with the Samajwadi Party and the Lok Jan Shakti Party, would decide on their future course of action.

Mr. Prasad said not aligning with the Congress had proved detrimental and he would work towards extending the party’s base.

The Union Cabinet is scheduled to meet on Monday. Mr. Prasad had not attended the last Cabinet meeting due to his preoccupation with the counting process and had deputed Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Prem Chand Gupta to attend the meeting.

Like Mr. Prasad, his Cabinet colleague and ally Mr. Paswan too denied that there was a Nitish Kumar wave in Bihar. He blamed the rout of the RJD-LJP alliance on the “misuse of official machinery” by the NDA government in Bihar. The LJP chief also regretted not having entered into an electoral alliance with the Congress in Bihar.

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