Patna:
Sticking to his offer of 11 Lok Sabha seats to Congress and one to NCP, RJD chief Lalu Prasad today appealed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to agree to the seat-sharing formula asserting that he would deliver results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections.
"Through you (media), I appeal to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, to agree to 12 seats being offered to the Congress and NCP in Bihar, and leave it to me to deliver the results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections," he told reporters in Patna.
Mr Prasad was briefing the media after a nearly two-hour meeting of the RJD parliamentary board meeting at former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi's official residence.
"I have no feeling of disrespect toward Sonia Gandhi," he said, appealing to her to ink an alliance with his party.
"I promise to you I will stop the communal forces from coming to power at the Centre," he said.
Defending the 12-seat offer, the RJD chief argued that he had to accommodate his party leaders and workers who too wanted to contest the elections.
Mr Prasad, in a veiled threat to the Congress, in the eventuality of it not concurring to the proposals, said, "It is not my responsibility alone to stop the communal forces... others too should be accommodating."
Mr Prasad said that he went by winnability of the candidates before arriving at his formula for the seat sharing with the Congress and the NCP and this idea should be accepted by the allies too.
"Merely contesting the polls should not be the motto, but winnability should also be given due consideration," the RJD chief said, adding that the allies should also ensure transfer of votes to the winning candidates among them.
He lashed out at local Congress leaders for misguiding the party leadership, including Mrs Gandhi, against an alliance with RJD in Bihar and appealed to Congress' national leaders to read through the designs of local leaders and convince the party.
Mr Prasad also recalled that the secular parties had lost badly in 2009 general elections due to split of votes.
On the status of alliance with Congress, Mr Prasad admitted that as of the day he had not got any reply from Congress leadership, but the chapter was not closed as yet.
He rued that Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had walked out of the alliance and joined communal forces.
The RJD chief said that as far as he was concerned he was hopeful of an alliance with Congress and will continue to woo its leadership about firming up pre-poll tie in the days to come.
Referring to his "endeavour" to stop the communal forces led by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from coming to power at the Centre, Mr Prasad claimed though he had tried to cobble up a broad secular alliance, it was not to be as the Left went ahead with the Third Front move.
"The secular forces stand divided at present against the juggernaut of the communal forces," he said and urged all anti-communal forces to come on board to prevent Mr Modi from taking over power at the Centre.
Claiming that the Gujarat Chief Minister posed a threat to the unity and integrity of the country and a situation like the post-independence phase could be replicated if the former succeeded in his designs, the RJD chief urged the forces to collectively take on Mr Modi to ensure that peace and communal amity prevailed in the country.
"Without peace and communal amity, development means nothing," he said.
Earlier, the RJD parliamentary board met for nearly two hours where the leaders authorised Mr Prasad to take the final call on an alliance with the Congress and the NCP, besides deciding the candidates for the general elections, the RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said.
"The RJD parliamentary board has unanimously authorised Lalu Prasad to take decision on alliance and distribution of tickets to the party candidates for the general elections," he said after emerging out of the meeting.
"Through you (media), I appeal to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, to agree to 12 seats being offered to the Congress and NCP in Bihar, and leave it to me to deliver the results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections," he told reporters in Patna.
Mr Prasad was briefing the media after a nearly two-hour meeting of the RJD parliamentary board meeting at former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi's official residence.
"I have no feeling of disrespect toward Sonia Gandhi," he said, appealing to her to ink an alliance with his party.
"I promise to you I will stop the communal forces from coming to power at the Centre," he said.
Defending the 12-seat offer, the RJD chief argued that he had to accommodate his party leaders and workers who too wanted to contest the elections.
Mr Prasad, in a veiled threat to the Congress, in the eventuality of it not concurring to the proposals, said, "It is not my responsibility alone to stop the communal forces... others too should be accommodating."
Mr Prasad said that he went by winnability of the candidates before arriving at his formula for the seat sharing with the Congress and the NCP and this idea should be accepted by the allies too.
"Merely contesting the polls should not be the motto, but winnability should also be given due consideration," the RJD chief said, adding that the allies should also ensure transfer of votes to the winning candidates among them.
He lashed out at local Congress leaders for misguiding the party leadership, including Mrs Gandhi, against an alliance with RJD in Bihar and appealed to Congress' national leaders to read through the designs of local leaders and convince the party.
Mr Prasad also recalled that the secular parties had lost badly in 2009 general elections due to split of votes.
On the status of alliance with Congress, Mr Prasad admitted that as of the day he had not got any reply from Congress leadership, but the chapter was not closed as yet.
He rued that Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had walked out of the alliance and joined communal forces.
The RJD chief said that as far as he was concerned he was hopeful of an alliance with Congress and will continue to woo its leadership about firming up pre-poll tie in the days to come.
Referring to his "endeavour" to stop the communal forces led by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from coming to power at the Centre, Mr Prasad claimed though he had tried to cobble up a broad secular alliance, it was not to be as the Left went ahead with the Third Front move.
"The secular forces stand divided at present against the juggernaut of the communal forces," he said and urged all anti-communal forces to come on board to prevent Mr Modi from taking over power at the Centre.
Claiming that the Gujarat Chief Minister posed a threat to the unity and integrity of the country and a situation like the post-independence phase could be replicated if the former succeeded in his designs, the RJD chief urged the forces to collectively take on Mr Modi to ensure that peace and communal amity prevailed in the country.
"Without peace and communal amity, development means nothing," he said.
Earlier, the RJD parliamentary board met for nearly two hours where the leaders authorised Mr Prasad to take the final call on an alliance with the Congress and the NCP, besides deciding the candidates for the general elections, the RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said.
"The RJD parliamentary board has unanimously authorised Lalu Prasad to take decision on alliance and distribution of tickets to the party candidates for the general elections," he said after emerging out of the meeting.
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