New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) : Outgoing Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Monday said that his party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), would extend unconditional support to the new United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Emerging from the last meeting of the outgoing cabinet, Lalu Prasad said his party would provide "unconditional support" to the new government. There has been speculation whether the RJD would be included in the new council of ministers, after the party competed with the Congress in the just-xconcluded Lok Sabha polls.   

The cabinet, in its meeting chaired by Manmohan Singh, had passed a resolution recommending that the Lok Sabha be dissolved, Lalu Prasad informed reporters outside the prime minister's residence at 7 Race Course Road here, where the meeting had been held.   

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh pointed out to reporters here that Lalu Prasad had stood by the party and its leader Sonia Gandhi when they were in opposition.   

Singh said that the 2009 poll verdict had indicated that the role of regional parties would be limited in the future.   

"I see a clear mandate in 2014. The stake of regional parties is coming down. You must understand the psyche of the Indian nation today. People have seen how the UPA was pressurised by small groups on issues which were not related to governance or the people. The people have not liked it and rejected them," Digvijay Singh said.