Cong pledges support to Lalu

March 03, 2005

Within minutes of the Jharkhand Governor inviting JMM Chief Shibu Soren to form the government, the Congress gave a letter of support to RJD chief Lalu Yadav in Bihar.

However, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan remains the sticking point.

He said he will vote against the RJD alliance in any vote of confidence.

He may not have the numbers to form the government but Lalu Yadav is certainly not short on confidence, which comes from the formation of the UPA government in Jharkhand.

Lalu who had parted ways with the JMM-Congress alliance in the state today supported them.

Now he wants the Congress to help him in forming the government in Bihar.

As the first step, the Congress sent its letter of support to RJD to governor Buta Singh.

"Everyone is supporting me - the BSP, the SP, the CPI. I will form the government," a confident Lalu said.

But Lalu is aware of the fact that unless Paswan comes to his aid, the going will be tough for him.

Today, the Lok Janshakti leader virtually distanced himself from the Congress.

"There is no point of all these letters. Where are the numbers for them?" said Paswan.

Ironically, Ram Jatan Sinha, the President of the Bihar unit of Congress also supported the High Command's decision today to support Lalu.

So far Sinha had maintained that the Congress should not be a part of the RJD government. " Whatever decision has been taken by the high command is acceptable to us," he said.

So the focus now will be on the Bihar Governor Buta Singh. The NDA is worried that just like Jharkhand, here too they could be beaten not in electoral arithmetic but by the Raj Bhavan.