I will never abandon Sonia Gandhi: Lalu

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, who met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on Sunday, told journalists that the two parties had a strong bond.

"I have a strong bond with Sonia Gandhi ji... whatever may come I will never abandon her," Prasad, whose meeting with Gandhi in New Delhi fuelled speculation that he met the Congress chief in the wake of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's reported plan to seek a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the alleged job scam during his tenure.

Pitching for a secular alliance in Jharkhand and Bihar, the RJD leader urged Gandhi to bring like-minded secular parties together to keep the National Democratic Alliance at bay. The RJD leader said a secular alliance in Bihar and Jharkhand was the need of the hour to keep the communal forces out.

"I discussed the matter and we are waiting for a positive response," he said. Prasad's meeting with Gandhi came close on the heels of the recent visit of members of an All India Congress Committee panel to Jharkhand to assess the ground situation there and find out with whom the party could align. In the Lok Sabha polls in Jharkhand, the Congress had entered into an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, dumping the RJD.

Upbeat over the good performance of his party in the by-elections to 18 assembly seats in Bihar, Prasad said, "We have now qualified for the finals (for the state assembly elections to be held at the end of next year).

"We will continue the practice for the final (by reaching the people of the state)... we have a number of issues to raise, to expose the real face of the Nitish Kumar government," he declared.

The RJD leader said he had apologised for the mistake, if any, committed when his party was in power for 15 years in Bihar and said his party had full respect for members of all communities.

The RJD, LJP and the Congress bagged 11 of the 18 seats in the assembly by-elections, giving a jolt to the NDA government in the state.