Paswan also to miss Cabinet meet, but says he and Lalu are with the UPA

Kolkata, May 8 (ANI): Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) supremo Ram Vilas Paswan has said that he too will miss out on Friday's Union Cabinet meeting. Earlier, it was reported that Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav would also miss the meeting.

It was then reported that both had opted to skip the meeting as they were miffed with Congress general secretary Rahul gandhi's overtures towards key rival in Bihar -- Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Paswan, however, said that his party had no differences with the Congress and added that both the LJP and the RJD will remain with the UPA.

Paswan said he was staying away from the cabinet meeting in New Delhi because of a previous commitment in Kolkata.

"I have not skipped the cabinet meeting. I am not able to attend as a previous meeting was fixed in Kolkata," Paswan said, responding to speculation that he was skipping the cabinet meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh because he was miffed with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's praise of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

He said, "We are already a part of the UPA and there is no question of drifting. The Left has reacted that there is no question of joining hands with the Congress. For us we have been a part of them and we will remain to be a part of the UPA."

When asked whether there was any sort of misunderstanding with the Congress, the LJP supremo said, "There is no misunderstanding with the Congress because they have already clarified their stands."

Also clarifying the reason for his and RJD chief Lalu Prasad's absence from the Cabinet meet, he said, "We had already informed earlier that we will not be able to attend the meeting because of a programme we had fixed earlier in North Kolkata. There was no agenda from our ministries." (ANI)