The RJD and LJP, which fought elections against Congress, were today kept out of the first meeting of the UPA after the polls, perhaps an indication that they may not find a place in the government.
"The issue of RJD and LJP did not come up at the UPA meeting," AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters to a volley of questions on the issue. Dwivedi asserted that the first meeting of the UPA was only of the pre-poll alliance partners.
While the LJP led by Ram Vilas Paswan failed to open its account in the Lok Sabha polls, Lalu Prasad's RJD managed to win only 4 of the 40 seats in its stronghold of Bihar. RJD and LJP had entered into an alliance in Bihar and had contested the elections against the Congress. RJD was the single largest party after Congress in the last government with 27 MPs while the LJP had four members in the Lok Sabha. Both the parties had consistently maintained during the campaign that even though they were fighting the elections separately, they will support the UPA.