The possibility of a Congress-RJD alliance in Bihar got stronger with RJD chief lalu Prasad calling on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday.
Prasad has already met Congress president Sonia Gandhi a few days ago and this was the RJD chief’s first meeting with Rahul after his release on bail from a Ranchi jail where he was convicted for fodder scam.
Though the details of the meeting between the two could not be available, the two leaders met for a few minutes and were understood to have discussed the current political situation and a possible alliance between the two parties in Bihar.
Amid the Congress-JD (U) alliance buzz still existing, Rahul had discussed the alliance issue with Bihar Congress chief Ashok Chaudhary a fortnight ago but nothing is clear yet.
While Rahul had expressed his mind against convicted public representatives by going against the Centre’s decision to bring an Ordinance safeguarding convicted MPs, lalu praised the leadership of the Congress VP as “million times better” than that of Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal.
Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal feigned ignorance about the Rahul-lalu meeting but hailed the RJD chief as an old ally. “lalu Prasad is an old ally. I do not know whether the meeting took place. He has always been standing with Congress and supporting us,” Afzal said at AICC briefing.
lalu, who is likely to meet Sonia Gandhi again shortly for working out details of a possible alliance, has vowed not to repeat the 2009 mistake of allowing the breakdown of alliance between the RJD and Congress.
The lJP and RJD had fought 2009 lok Sabha elections separately without an alliance with Congress and as a result while RJD could win only four seats in Bihar and the Congress two, the lJP failed to open its account. This was in stark contrast to their having together won 29 seats in 2004 lok Sabha polls.