Lalu slams NCP for supporting Rahul Bajaj

New Delhi, Jun 6 (UNI) Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today assailed the NCP for backing industrialist Rahul Bajaj's Rajya Sabha candidature, saying it was against the tenets of coalition politics.

Mr Bajaj is contesting as an independent and is being supported by the BJP along with its ally Shiv Sena.

The RJD chief said the NCP by backing Mr Bajaj instead of Congress candidate Avinash Pandey has violated the UPA consensus to fight jointly against communal forces.

What the NCP was doing was not in the interest of the objectives for which the alliance had come into being, he regretted.

Mr Prasad said he would speak to NCP chief Sharad Pawar in this connection when he returnes from London.

The combined stregnth of BJP-Shiv Sena's 110 MLAs supporting the NCP-backed candidate can tilt the balance much to the discomfort of the Congress, which has fielded Mr Avinash Pande as its nominee, but has little chance of winning in the 288-member Assembly.

The winning candidate needs support of 145 members.

UNI SKS NAZ RL HT2000