In an apparent bid to reach out to her estranged ally, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asked Railway Minister Lalu Prasad to attend the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday.
"The UPA chairperson rang up the Railway Minister on Saturday evening and requested him to attend a meeting of the Union Cabinet on Monday," his private secretary Bhola Yadav told PTI on Sunday.
He, however, did not divulge what transpired during the telephonic conversation between the two leaders coming in the backdrop of severe drubbing of RJD-LJP led Fourth Front had in Bihar.
The Railway Minister, he said, is scheduled to leave for Delhi later in the day.
Lalu has not been attending Cabinet meetings ever since he forged an alliance with the Lok Janshakti Party and Samajwadi Party.
An apparently contrite Lalu, Congress' largest ally in the outgoing Lok Sabha, had on Saturday admitted that not contesting the elections in alliance with the Congress was a big mistake.
"The decision to contest elections without the Congress on our side was a big mistake and I acknowledge it. However, it is a matter of great happiness for me that the Congress-led UPA is all set to form its government at the Centre," he had said.
