After phone call from Sonia, Lalu says time to unite non-BJP forces

A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and urged her to help forge a non-BJP front at the national level, RJD chief Lalu Prasad received a call from Sonia on Friday.

Lalu, whose political outfit RJD is the single largest party in Bihar, said that the only way out to check-mate Narendra Modi is to unite all non-BJP parties and bring them under one umbrella.

“I spoke to Sonia Ji and will meet her soon. Time has come for all the non-BJP leaders to put aside their ego and join hands. Past experiences show that whenever we have united, the BJP had to bite dust, just like in Bihar Assembly poll in 2015. And when we have disintegrated, the BJP have romped home,” remarked Lalu.

The RJD chief, who has family ties with Samajwadi leader Mulayam Singh, said he was constantly in touch with Akhilesh Yadav and would like Mayawati to join hands with SP to help shape up a Bihar-type Grand Alliance at the national level.

Nitish on Thursday had met Sonia at her New Delhi residence before leaving for Kerala. It is learnt that Nitish advocated the need to forge ‘maximum Opposition unity’ to fight the BJP, while discussing how like-minded parties can work together. The Bihar Chief Minister also suggested Sonia about fielding a joint candidate for the President’s post.

Lalu, who got a call from Sonia on Friday, said that the Congress being the largest Opposition party should take the lead in forming the non-BJP front ahead of the presidential election. A few days back, NCP too had echoed similar sentiments when Congress won the bypolls in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

Lalu, however, refused to be drawn into controversial issues like who would lead the non-BJP front. “All like-minded people will sit and decide about the leadership issue when the appropriate time comes,” said Lalu, who, of late, has been drawing flak by the BJP over certain land deals in Bihar.