My ‘broken Hindi’ created rift with Lalu,explains Pranab

Cong leader Pranab Mukherjee downplayed his salvo at the Bihar strongman saying his 'broken Hindi' perhaps created a misunderstanding.

Afer his verbal duel with Lalu Yadav dragged Congress-RJD ties to the brink again,Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee downplayed his salvo at the Bihar strongman saying his ‘broken Hindi’ perhaps created a misunderstanding that he would not be in a government again.

After injecting a language problem for the war of words,Mukherjee also indicated that Lalu was very much with the UPA and that the RJD leader also shared this view.

“Yesterday I was in Samastipur and one of my comments there had created some confusion. My broken Hindi was perhaps the reason for creation of the confusion,” Mukherjee,the External Affairs Minister said,a day after he tore into Lalu for his remarks that the Fourth Front’s support for Manmohan Singh as prime minister after the elections cannot be taken for granted.

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Mukherjee reportedly told an election rally at Samastipur,”Who will form government? BJP,NDA or the Third Front or Lalu? Leave alone forming the government,Lalu will find it difficult to become even a minister because he is with nobody (not in any major front).” Mukherjee also said it will be difficult to keep Lalu as a Congress ally.

Asked if there was a patch-up now with Lalu,Mukherjee said he spoke over telephone yesterday to the Railway Minister who wanted to know what exactly he had said in the meeting.

“We are good friends,” he said. Sources said Mukherjee told Lalu that nobody was thinking of throwing him out of UPA. Lalu remains in UPA and there is no move to send him out of the alliance,they added.

“I spoke to Laluji in English. I told him perhaps my broken Hindi was the source of the confusion. Laluji then told me henceforth you should speak only in English,” he said.