Lalu calls on Sonia amid reshuffle buzz

Amid talks of an impending Cabinet reshuffle and UPA’s anxiety over the Telangana crisis, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Amid talks of an impending Cabinet reshuffle and UPA’s anxiety over the Telangana crisis, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

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A skeptical Congress leader of Bihar, however, feels that Lalu may have chosen the time to meet the Congress president to weigh his chances of rejoining the UPA government and get a Cabinet berth in the forthcoming reshuffle.

“He is trying for long to get back to the UPA. The state leadership, however, remains vehemently opposed to his re-entry,” a former MP from Bihar told reporters here.

During the last weekend, Lalu had prepared the ground for this meeting. He was initially not coming for the all-party meeting on the lokpal bill. Barely 24 hours ago, he changed his mind and decided to attend. According to top Congress sources, he called up Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday evening and took a “brief” on the latest situation of the Lok Pal bill.

In Patna, the party had grand celebrations on RJD’s 15th foundation day. Lalu, however, chose to skip his party’s programme