Lalu relents on deadline to Congress, offers it 11 Lok Sabha seats

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on Sunday relented on his deadline to Congress to accept his offer of 11 Lok Sabha seats and instead appealed to Sonia Gandhi to agree to the formula, asserting he would deliver results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections.

Lalu, who had asked Congress to communicate its acceptance before RJD Parliamentary Board meeting in Patna on Sunday, apparently softened his stand, appealing to Gandhi to agree to 12 seats being offered to Congress and NCP.

Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats.

‘Through you (media), I appeal to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to agree to 12 seats being offered to the Congress and NCP in Bihar, and leave it to me to deliver the results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections,’ he said.

He was talking to reporters after a nearly two-hour meeting of RJD parliamentary board at former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi’s official residence here.

‘I have no feeling of disrespect toward Sonia Gandhi,’ Lalu said, appealing to her to ink an alliance with his party.

‘I promise to you I will stop the communal forces from coming to power at the Centre,’ Lalu said.

Defending the 12-seat offer, he argued that he had to accommodate his party leaders and workers who too wanted to contest.

In a veiled threat to Congress in the eventuality of it not concurring to the proposals, he said, ‘It is not my responsibility alone to stop the communal forces...others too should be accommodating.’