Lalu tries to bring Mulayam back into grand alliance

RJD chief Lalu Prasad flew in here from Patna on Friday to salvage the grand alliance stitched together by leaders of the erstwhile Janata Party for the Bihar Assembly elections, a day after SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav announced his exit.

Prasad joined JD(U) president Sharad Yadav’s efforts to impress upon Mulayam to reconsider his decision. During their two-hour meeting, Prasad tried to underscore Mulayam’s importance in the anti-BJP alliance for the Bihar polls.

However, the SP chief is learnt to have stood his ground on quitting the alliance. “He is our guardian. He has all the more responsibility to ensure this alliance continues and communal forces are defeated. He should remember that Uttar Pradesh goes to polls in two years,” former Bihar chief minister Prasad told reporters after the meeting with Mulayam.

However, SP leaders admitted privately the Mulayam — addressed as “Netaji” by party cadre — was uncomfortable being seen in the company of the Congress, the SP’s arch-rival in Uttar Pradesh.

This was also one of the reason Mulayam kept away from the grand alliance’s “Swabhiman Rally” last Sunday, which was addressed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Prasad, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Mulayam had deputed his brother Shivpal Yadav to attend the rally.

The RJD chief reminded Mulayam of the key role he has to play in “finishing off” the “threat posed by communalism” to the country.