By IANS,
New Delhi : With his Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) reduced to just four Lok Sabha seats, party chief Lalu Prasad said Sunday he would “always” support the UPA, whether or not he is part of the new government.
On his arrival in Delhi after being called by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi to attend a meeting of the outgoing cabinet on Monday, the railways minister told reporters: “I being a part of the government or not is another thing. We will always support the UPA.”
However, a source close to Lalu Prasad told IANS that he had been invited by Sonia Gandhi to join the new government.
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 RJD and another estranged 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.
Commenting on the National Democratic Alliance’s poll debacle and its prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani, the minister said that Advani was not destined to be prime minister.
“It was our ambition to keep BJP and Advani-ji from succeeding – this was destined. We are very happy� That a UPA government has come to power is a good thing.”
The RJD was down to four seats from its 2004 tally of 24.