Lalu, Sonia meet to discuss Jharkhand poll tie-up

RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Congress president Sonia Gandhi at a function in Bihar's Rohtas district on February 10, 2009. Photo: Ranjeet Kumar

Buoyed by the Bihar Assembly bypoll results, RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss about a secular alliance for the Assembly elections in Jharkhand due soon.

Mr. Prasad met Ms. Gandhi for over 30 minutes and was accompanied by his close associate and former Union Minister Premchand Gupta.

Later, Mr. Gupta said secular parties like the RJD and the Congress should come together in the tribal dominated State where elections are due early next year.

The RJD, the LJP and the Congress bagged 11 of the 18 seats in the just concluded Bihar Assembly byelections, giving a jolt to the JD(U)-led NDA government in the State.

Mr. Gupta rubbished questions that Mr. Prasad met Ms. Gandhi in the wake of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee planning to institute a CBI inquiry into the alleged job scam in the ministry during his tenure. “The issue did not come up”, he said.