Lalu rues his decision to break with Congress

16 May 2009

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad today admitted that his decision to break away from the Congress-led alliance and ally with Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janashakti Party was the "biggest mistake" that resulted in his party's "heavy" defeat in Bihar.

The RJD supremo himself lost the Pataliputra parliamentary constituency to his nearest JD(U) rival Ranjan Prasad Yadav, while he just managed to win at Saran against BJP rival Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

''It was the biggest mistake. And there is no doubt that breaking away from Congress has resulted in our heavy defeat," Lalu Prasad said, adding, ''People have rejected our alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan. We were not expecting this result.''

"It's the mandate for the people,'' Lalu said, adding that he has no grudges against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. ''We will now assess why we lost in Bihar and what went wrong,'' he added.

Both Lalu and Paswan said they were happy that secular parties have won and people have rejected the Bhartiya Janata Party.

The Congress party has won the mandate and we congratulate them, he added.