Lalu Prasad Yadav hints at thaw with Congress after phone call with Sonia Gandhi

The telephonic conversation comes after Congress and RJD broke off the alliance ahead of the by-polls in Kusheshwar Asthan (SC) and Tarapur constituencies in Bihar scheduled on October 30.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad (File Photo | PTI)
RJD chief Lalu Prasad (File Photo | PTI)

NEW DELHI:  Amid ongoing trouble in the grand alliance in Bihar, Congress president Sonia Gandhi spoke to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in a move to break the ice after the two oldest allies were engaged in a war of words ahead of bypolls in the state.

Lalu on Wednesday said that Sonia Gandhi had called him Tuesday and the discussion was around his health and the opposition alliance to take on the BJP.  This comes after the Congress and the RJD broke off the alliance for the bypolls in Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur constituencies scheduled on October 30.

“I spoke to Sonia Gandhi. She asked me about my well-being and whereabouts. I said that ‘I am fine; your party is an all India party so get all like-minded people and parties together to form a strong alternative and call a meeting of all people’,” he was quoted as saying by a news agency.

The RJD chief had on Sunday slammed Congress’ Bihar in-charge Bhakta Charan Das and said the party would lose security  deposit if it contested in alliance with the Congress in bypolls. Congress has also put up its candidates on both the seats.  

The RJD and the Congress had contested the 2020 Bihar polls as alliance partners. The RJD had blamed the Congress for not winning enough seats to pull the alliance to power despite the former emerging as the single largest party with 75 seats while the Congress could only manage to win 19 of the 70 seats it had contested.  The alliance fell 10 seats short of majority, leading to the return of the BJP-JD(U) alliance back in power.

One post for Cong Punjab in-charge 

New Delhi: Harish Chaudhary, who was recently appointed Punjab Congress in-charge, on Wednesday met party leadership and expressed his intent to resign as Rajasthan revenue minister saying he believes in ‘one person, one post’ and would want to focus on new responsibility with upcoming assembly elections in the state. He met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to discuss organisational matters. 

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