Kolkata, May 8 (Inditop) The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) was with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and would remain with it, union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said Friday while clarifying that he was staying away from the cabinet meeting in New Delhi because of a previous commitment here.
“I have not skipped the cabinet meeting. I am not able to attend as a previous meeting was fixed in Kolkata,” Paswan said, responding to speculation that he was skipping the cabinet meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh because he was miffed with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s praise of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
There are elections in Kolkata and Himachal Pradesh, the steel minister said.
“Morever, there was no agenda of my ministry (in the cabinet meeting),” he added.
“The Congress has already clarified what Rahulji wants to say. I am with the UPA. LJP, RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad) is with the UPA. And we will remain with UPA,” Paswan asserted.
The reality, he said, was that Nitish Kumar was with the Bharatiya Janata Party-Led National Democratic Alliance
Relations between the Congress and the RJD as well as the LJP have been strained to breaking point over seat sharing in Bihar. Rahul Gandhi’s comments about Nitish Kumar just added to the tensions.
