Congress to discuss issue of govt. formation without Lalu

New Delhi, May 18 (ANI): All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Monday said the Congress would discuss the issue of government formation only with its pre-poll allies, of which the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is not a part.

"Along with the Congress, we have the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the Trinamool Congress (TC), the National Conference (NC), Kerala Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). These are the allies. Pre-poll allies as Janardan Dwivedi has indicated does not include the RJD at the moment," Digvijay Singh told reporters here.

When asked if the RJD Chief Lalu Prasad is a member of the UPA Government, Singh said the Railways Minister did not consider the Congress strong enough for a pre-poll alliance.

At the same time, Digvijay Singh praised the RJD chief for standing by the Congress when it was in the opposition and termed him as 'a very senior and seasoned politician'.

"Lalu is the person who stood in support of Sonia Gandhi, when everybody was opposing. We cannot forget this," Singh added. (ANI)