NEW DELHI: RJD chief Lalu Prasad met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday and later vowed not to repeat the 2009 mistake of allowing breakdown of alliance with Congress.
After the nearly 10-minute meeting, Prasad said Gandhi has said she will meet him again this month to discuss with him the issue of alliance.
He said he can say with full confidence that an alliance of Congress-RJD-LJP will happen this time and will halt the march of “communal forces” in Bihar, Jharkhand and elsewhere.
He also chose the occasion to praise the leadership of Rahul Gandhi as “million times better” than that of Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal.
“I am saying with full confidence that we will unite all secular parties against communal forces. Congress is all India party, a strong and secular party … Earlier we were together, even today we are so and will remain together even in future … I will make any sacrifice for this.
“I will not allow communal forces to occupy power at any cost … that is my dream …,” Prasad told reporters.
The RJD chief, who expressed regret over break-up of the tie-up with Congress in 2009 due to his mistake of offering only three seats to Congress, said the error will not be repeated this time.
LJP and RJD had fought 2009 Lok Sabha elections separately without alliance with Congress and as a result while RJD could win only four seats, Congress two and LJP failed to open its account.
This was in stark contrast to their having together won 29 seats in 2004 Lok Sabha polls.
Invoking the allegory of the Mahabharata, Prasad said “that time Congress had demanded only five villages. It was a mistake we did not give. Now, this will not be repeated … Our alliance is already with LJP and Congress. I had committed the mistake”.
Amid indications that LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan is peeved at RJD undermining his party this time and repeatedly talking of giving it less seats, Prasad said “I am not angry … I am not angry with Paswan or anybody else … We are together …”
Meanwhile, on the defensive over criticism for the plight of Muzaffarnagar riot victims, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh attacked Yadav on Tuesday for visiting the relief camps just days after Rahul Gandhi and said the RJD leader is a sycophant “licking the Congress’ feet”.
Released on bail after his conviction in a fodder scam case, the former Bihar CM visited Muzaffarnagar shortly after Rahul’s unannounced trip to the camps last week.
Yadav had criticised the Akhilesh Yadav government for the poor state of affairs in the camps. (PTI)
