Congress leaders CP Joshi and Ashok Choudhary also met Lalu at his residence late on Thursday evening, and said their alliance was strong
The RJD and the Congress on Thursday mounted a scathing attack on Nitish Kumar — who dumped them to form a new government in Bihar with the BJP — and called him "an opportunist who has betrayed people's mandate for power".
The RJD threatened to disrupt the Bihar Assembly's monsoon session if Nitish and his new deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi, did not resign.
RJD workers staged state-wide protests, blocking roads, burning Nitish's effigies and raising slogans against the NDA government in Bihar. At several places, they created law and order issues, the police said. In Saran, protesters allegedly pelted stones on the district magistrate and the superintendent of police.
In Patna, RJD leaders, who were not allowed to march up to Raj Bhavan due to prohibitory orders in place, raised slogans and burnt Nitish's effigy outside the JD-U headquarters.
RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was in Ranchi on Thursday for a fodder scam hearing, said he was not able to sleep on Wednesday night. "It was a fixed match," said Lalu, comparing Nitish with mythological demon "Bhasmasur". Turn to P4
Congress leaders CP Joshi and Ashok Choudhary also met Lalu at his residence late on Thursday evening, and said their alliance was strong.
RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha said the party will move court over the "injustice". "As per the SR Bommai judgment, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi should have called the RJD, the single-largest party, to explore the possibilities of government formation," Jha said.
What baffled political observers here was Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's admission that he had been aware of Nitish's "planning" for three-four months.
"He (Nitish) had joined hands with us to fight communal forces, but for his personal politics he has now teamed up with them," Rahul told reporters outside Parliament.
"In politics you come to know of what is going on in the minds of people. Clearly, I knew Nitish ji was planning something. We knew this had been going on for the last three-four months," he said.
Lalu's son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav claimed that half of the JD(U) MLAs were in touch with the RJD "Why did he hold them in a closed room? Did he not listen to the conscience of his own legislators?" he asked. Nitish had quit, saying he had to listen to the voice of conscience, referring to criticism around corruption charges against Tejashwi.
However, discontent among some RJD legislators, who were in favour of Tejashwi's resignation over corruption charges, came to the fore when MLA Maheshwar Prasad said he was with Nitish and did not care if the party took action against him.
Meanwhile, RJD legislators on Thursday evening chose Tejashwi as the leader of Opposition in the Bihar legislative assembly and former CM Rabri Devi as the leader of Opposition in the Bihar legislative council.
Terming the developments in Bihar a "wrong signal for democracy", BSP chief Mayawati said that misuse of power and official machinery by the BJP leadership posed a serious challenge to established democratic norms.
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