Lalu meets Sonia Gandhi, offers alliance in Bihar
PTI [ Updated 31 Dec 2013, 21:18:35 ]
Lalu meets Sonia Gandhi, offers alliance in Bihar
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New Delhi: RJD chief Lalu Prasad today met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi 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 aganist 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..”
In the backdrop of reports that Paswan is warming up to Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), Prasad said, “if suppose somebody does not have to come, let them remain where they are….I am with Congress….”
Launching a blistering attack against Modi and BJP, Prasad, who had arrested senior leader BJP leader L K Advani in Bihar during the Rathyatra at the peak of Ramjanmabhoomi Babari Masjid agitation, also talked about the “historic role” of RJD.
“I came to meet Sonia out of courtesy. It’s a courtesy visit…. The historic role that the RJD has to play in the current situation in the country. I have come to meet in this situation. The significance of this meeting is that communal forces today want to divide the country…. BJP led by Narendra Modi wants to divide the country…If it was successful in the 2014 contest..
“It will not be allowed to succeed. These forces, Modi’s BJP and RSS are involved in humiliating people in the name of democracy… You must have seen that riots took place in one of the biggest states — UP. I saw the situation myself. The RSS, the BJP are in their greed to occupy the throne of Hastinapur(Delhi) are communalising the society. People need to be cautious of it…,” the RJD chief said.
Prasad said that he had told Gandhi that he is with Congress and other secular parties like Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP and that “we will together not allow Modi’s dreams to come true. So give us time… Madam said she will fix time very soon… This month.”
Prasad’s meeting with the Congress President is significant given the aggressive posturing by Rahul Gandhi against corruption, which had led to speculation that Congress alliance with convicted Lalu Prasad’s RJD could be in jeopardy.
Prasad heaped praise on the Congress Vice President saying “Rahul Gandhi is a million times better than Narendra Modi and this candidate of AAP which you are projecting ….Whoever Congress announces (as PM candidate), we will accept,” he said.