Patna, New Delhi: Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad will not attend the cabinet meeting in New Delhi on Friday in an apparent disapproval of what he sees as overtures made by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to Nitish Kumar, their rival in Bihar.
The minister said he was busy with poll meetings in Patna and that the meeting wasn't important for him, as Railways was not on its agenda.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will chair the meeting to review the functioning of various ministries. Meanwhile, Congress media department Chairman M Veerappa Moily downplayed the development underlining that the cabinet meeting was a "routine one" and not for demonstration of solidarity of UPA members.
"It is too far-fetched. We should not draw adverse inference out of imagination," he said adding that the two leaders were part of the UPA government.
"Lalu and Paswan have to decide whether they are still with the UPA. It's the Congress that should be angry with them," said Moily.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan are also not attending the meeting.
It's noteworthy that in the recent past Lalu Prasad has been at loggerheads with the Congress . His party is fighting the polls in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh without the Congress. The RJD has seat arrangements with Paswan's LJP and Mulayam's SP in both the states.
(With PTI inputs)