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Rabri is not at Sonia's mercy, says Laloo

Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav on Saturday said the Bihar government, headed by his wife Rabri Devi, was not at the mercy of the Congress.

Talking to newsmen at the Ranchi airport, he said the Congress support to the ministry was issue-based. It would hardly matter if the Congress decided to withdraw.

The condition in which the support had been extended has not changed as the threat of communal forces vitiating social harmony and disrupting the pace of social justice and development remained.

Yadav denied that the support was sought in writing by the Rabri Devi government.

He said his party had allied with the Congress in the last Lok Sabha poll and supported its candidates in the election to the teacher's constituency of the Bihar legislative council. The Congress, instead of supporting the RJD in the recently held by-election, had fielded its candidates. Despite that "we decided to support the party if it staked a claim to form the government at the Centre," he said.

A few discarded Congressmen were creating confusion, fearing their political negation if the Congress and the RJD decided to go together in the state poll next year, the former chief minister said. But his party was still going strong and would not only repeat its performance, but improve its tally.

Yadav said he and Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha convenor Mulayam Singh Yadav have decided to undertake a nation-wide campaign to mobilise a third force. He would visit Gujarat in the first week of February to infuse confidence among the minorities.

The Rashtriya Lok Tantrik Morcha had decided in the national perspective to support the Congress as there was no government worth mentioning at the Centre.

Asked about the incidents in Gujarat and Orissa, Yadav said in Gujarat it appeared there was no government. He refused to comment on Orissa.

UNI

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