By IANS,
Patna/New Delhi : UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi Sunday rang up RJD chief and Railways Minister Lalu Prasad asking him to attend a meeting of the outgoing cabinet Monday and invited him to join the new government, sources close to the minister said.
Bhola Yadav, personal assistant of Lalu Prasad, told IANS from Patna minutes before the minister left for Delhi that: “Sonia-ji called up and invited him (Lalu Prasad) to attend the meeting and also join the government.”
“Lalu-ji has already regretted that the RJD did not ally with the Congress in the elections,” he added.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and another estranged United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partner Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had contested the elections in Bihar minus the Congress, which went on its own. While the RJD got four seats out of 40 in Bihar, the LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan did not get any. The Congress managed to get two seats.
The UPA has bagged 262 seats in the Lok Sabha, just 10 short of simple majority and is set to form the government again in New Delhi.