Nitish, Lalu meet Mulayam to discuss alliance for Bihar polls

With the proposed Janata Parivar alliance seen as collapsing before it is formalized, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav met Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday to discuss the alliance ahead of assembly elections.

Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav was also present in the meeting, which took place at Mulayam's residence here.

Earlier in the day, Nitish met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at his residence here during which the duo is believed to have discussed possible alliance between the two parties.

Lalu, who has so far remained non-committal on the Janata Parivar alliance, had earlier hinted that an alliance can be cobbled out to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay.

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

However, not much progress has been made so far as serious differences cropped up on the question of who will be the chief ministerial candidate between the RJD and JD (U) for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.