Tuesday, August 23 2005 20:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Congress today (Aug 23, 2005) sought to bail out beleaguered Bihar Governor Buta Singh, in the eye of a storm over his letter to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and National Democratic Alliace (NDA) were attempting to make political capital on the issue in view of the coming Assembly polls.

"When we talk about the letter, it should be in the backdrop of action taken by the concerned ministry any violation of Constitutional guidelines. Railway ministry has violated no rules", party spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters.

Suggesting that Governors writing such letters was not new as several such letters have been written in the past few years, he said the Congress was against politicizing the matter.

The BJP and NDA were in a 'pitiable' state and were searching for issues and therefore were politicizing the matter in view of the dynamics of Bihar elections, he said adding that mere writing of a letter was no violation.

He also steered clear of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Chief Ram Vilas Paswan's plea for a Muslim Chief Minister in Bihar saying that the Congress was for a broad based understanding among democratic, secular and progressive forces in the elections.