Manmohan Singh as PM cannot be taken for granted: Lalu

Giving a new twist to the prime ministerial race, RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said that Manmohan Singh as prime minister could not be taken for granted and UPA constituents will sit together after the elections to choose their nominee for the top post.

The railway minister, who all along has maintained that Manmohan Singh was the UPA candidate, on Tuesday sang a different tune against the backdrop of his party RJD and the Congress going their own ways to fight the elections in Bihar.

"UPA is a confederation of secular parties and does not belong only to the Congress. We will sit together (after the elections are over) to chalk out a common minimum
programme and in consultation with all our partners select a leader who will be the prime minister," Prasad told reporters here.

"The UPA will form its government and there is no no doubt about it. But, indeed, the people in the state Congress leadership misled Sonia Gandhi about their strength as a
result of which the party fielded candidates in so many places against us.

"These people will not be able to show their faces to the Congress president after the elections," he said.