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Lalu meets Sonia on seat-sharing

     New Delhi: RJD president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had an hour-long meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi here today on contentious seat-sharing issue for next month's Bihar and Jharkhand assembly polls. "I met Sonia Gandhi and told her our alliance will continue. We will fight the elections in Bihar together. These are minor problems and we will sort them out. I told her we should look at our support base in the state and then demand seats. There is no danger to the alliance and no danger to the UPA at the Centre," Lalu Prasad Yadav said. Yadav hinted that there could be some friendly contests in the two states but did not give any figure while replying to a question. "They (Congress) have their own compulsions. We have our own and a way needs to be found out to accommodate everyone to the maximum possible extent," the RJD president said.

     Lalu met CPI leader D Raja this morning after talks between the Congress, the RJD and the Left failed to yield any result on Tuesday night. But there have been more problems for the Congress ahead of the assembly elections. Earlier, Union Minister and Lok Jan Shakti party leader Ram Vilas Paswan said his party will fight all seats in Bihar alone. He said there's no such thing as a UPA in Bihar. Paswan had an unscheduled meeting with Sonia Gandhi during which he offered chief ministership to her party in Bihar if it tied up with his outfit. Paswan said he was invited by Gandhi for the meeting which took place close on the heels of her hour-long parleys with RJD president Laloo Prasad on the seat-sharing issue in Bihar and Jharkhand which remained deadlocked. Paswan said he apprised Sonia Gandhi of the political situation in Bihar and assured her that if there was a tie-up between LJP and Congress, there would be two-third majority for the alliance and Congress would get the chief ministership. He declined to divulge what was Sonia's response to his offer. Replying to questions, he said the issue of any alliance with JD(U) was now a "closed chapter" as the party had already entered into a tie up with BJP.

PM invites Mamata Banerjee to join Cabinet (Go To Top)

     Kolkata: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday invited Trinamool Congress president Mamata Bannerjee to join the Union Cabinet to solve "various problems" of West Bengal. Banerjee stated this while talking to mediapersons after meeting Dr Singh at the Raj Bhavan here. Mamata, who was leading a party delegation, said that the offer came from Dr Singh when she apprised him of several "problems" in the state and requested his intervention in this regard. "You should join the Union Cabinet to solve the problems of West Bengal which you are talking about," Ms Banerjee quoted the Prime Minster as saying.

Railway board catches fake TTE (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: During a surprise check, a member of the Railway Board Commercial Branch Central Ticket Checking Squad Purohit detected one fake TTE checking the tickets of passengers in train No. 8033 Ahmedabad-Howrah Express near Anand in Gujarat. According to a press release, due to some suspicion, Purohit questioned the person and found him to be a fake checking staff. The person was handed over to police for prosecution. Purohit has been awarded Rs. 1000 for his exemplary work and devotion to duty.