'Alag, Alag,' Says Lalu Prasad on Campaigning With Sonia Gandhi in Bihar

Patna: Lalu Prasad Yadav, who had skipped Rahul Gandhi's first election rally in Bihar last month, today said that he will not be campaigning alongside his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi for the Bihar elections, to be held in five phases from October 12.

"We will be campaigning alag, alag (separately)," said Mr Yadav when asked if he would campaign with Mrs Gandhi. Their parties are allies in an anti-BJP coalition being led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Lalu Yadav had shared stage with Mrs Gandhi at a big rally in Patna last month. But he has reportedly been upset at the prominence the ally has bestowed upon Nitish Kumar and had earlier this year, skipped an iftaar dinner in Delhi hosted by the Congress President.

The Congress had cast its deciding vote in favour of Nitish Kumar fronting the coalition as presumptive chief minister, overriding the objections of Lalu Yadav's party, which suggested that they wait till after the elections to decide who would be chief minister.

This morning, Lalu Yadav tweeted, "Does anyone know Bihar better than the Bihari duo Lalu-Nitish? We will not let non-resident Gujaratis destroy Bihar." It was a dig at the BJP, but the lack of mention for their third ally was telling.

The alliance has said its strategy is for top leaders to campaign separately in Bihar to cover more ground, but the Congress is also said to be keen to distance itself from Lalu, who was convicted in 2013 in a corruption case.

Lalu Yadav was then disqualified as a parliamentarian, according to new rules of the Supreme Court and Rahul Gandhi had scuttled a move by the then Congress-led government to circumvent the court verdict, a move that would have helped Lalu.

In the Bihar coalition, the Congress plays junior partner. Of the 243 seats in Bihar, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and Lalu Yadav's RJD are contesting about 100 each, while the Congress will contest about 40.