Patna, Apr. 21: Senior Congress party leader Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav would not be a part of the next government.

Addressing an election rally in Samastipur, Mukherjee said: "Lalu will neither form the government or will be a part of the next government. Lalu should have given us three seats in Bihar we had asked for. We will never tolerate being treated as a doormat."

Retaliating. Lalu, who is in Bihar campaigning, retorted by saying that Mukherjee was no one to decide who would or would not be a part of the government. Only time would tell who would form the next government, and that he should be allowed to continue with his campaigning in Bihar and other parts of the country.

Lalu left the Congress red-faced when he formed a new Yadav front along with Paswan''s RLP in Bihar and denied the three seats demanded by the Congress.

Earlier in the day, Lalu said that UPA constituents would sit together after the elections to choose their nominee for Prime Minister, and that Manmohan Singh should not take it granted that he would occupy the top post. (ANI)