Cong calls for alliance of democratic parties to defeat BJP

Call anti-saffron front comes a day after Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad met Mulayam Singh to discuss alliance ahead of Bihar polls

Slamming the 'arrogance of power' and the 'undemocratic actions' of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress party on Monday called for a broader alliance of democratic parties to defeat the former in Bihar.

"First and foremost is that the undemocratic actions of the BJP should be defeated. The arrogance of power and the undemocratic actions from BJP should be fought together by all the democratic forces," Congress spokesperson P C Chacko told ANI.

"Congress wishes that the RJD-JD (U) and all the democratic parties come together and fight…. The issue of seat sharing and other things is their subject…We are for a broader alliance to defeat the BJP," he added.

Chacko's comments comes a day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav met Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to discuss the alliance ahead of the Bihar assembly elections.

Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav was also present in the meeting.

Lalu Prasad is also likely to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi today to discuss the alliance issue.

On April 15, six political parties-including the Janata Dal (United), Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party-had announced a merger to revive the united Janata Party. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was named the president of the merged entity.

However, not much progress has been made so far due to the differences over chief ministerial candidate and seat sharing between the RJD and JD (U) for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.