Only compulsion to ally with JD(U) was to defeat BJP: Lalu

RJD chief Lalu Prasad today rejected speculation of a "compulsion" behind his decision to ally with JD(U) and name Nitish Kumar as Chief Ministerial candidate for Bihar Assembly polls asserting that it was done to defeat the BJP.
"Does Lalu have any compulsion? Yes, my compulsion is that I don't want to allow them (RSS-BJP) to come to power. This is the compulsion," Prasad told NewsX channel in an interview, rejecting speculation of any rift between him and Kumar.
Prasad, while naming Kumar as CM candidate of the secular alliance in Bihar had said that he was ready to drink poison to crush the cobra of communalism, today explained that by those remarks, he meant killing the "arrogance".

"This arrogance is poison. To think that either me or no body else. This is poison," he said insisting that his coming together was to defeat Narendra Modi-led BJP in Bihar.
"I want to assure the secular forces and the people of India that in this battle of Bihar, I am ready to gulp everything. Hum har tarah ka ghoont peene ko taiyar hain. Hum har tarah ka zehar peene ko taiyar hain. (I am ready to drink all types of poison)," the RJD chief had said on Monday.
Downplaying it, Prasad also found nothing wrong in Bihar Chief Minister meeting Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi before the alliance talks at SP chief Mulayam Singh's residence on Sunday that led to reports that Congress backing to the JD(U) leader forced Prasad to accept Nitish as CM candidate.

"It's good that they met. What damage it did to me? Do I have any difference with the family of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi? Is there some queue that who will meet first and who will meet later?" he said.

Prasad said secular leaders keep meeting and that the alliance of RJD-JD(U) and Congress was needed to ensure the "pack up" of BJP from Bihar.
When told metaphorically that he had to consumed poison and Nitish had walked away with the nectar, the RJD chief quipped that Lord Shankar, who had consumed poison after 'Samudra Manthan' was called great and the 'poison' did not affect him.

"What is this to say that if I am not the leader then no body else can be. Then you cannot fight any battle," he said.
Prasad said that the Narendra Modi-led BJP came to power because forces of social justice were fighting each other.