File picture of Lalu Prasad.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad today offered the Samajwadi Party five seats to contest in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections due to start next month, in an effort to placate an upset ally and mount a sturdier front against the BJP.
"We have decided to give three seats earlier allotted to NCP and two others from the RJD quota to SP in the Bihar elections," Mr Prasad told reporters. The Rashtriya Janata Dal was earlier set to contest in 100 of the 243 seats for the crucial polls.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday walked away from the coalition of RJD, Janata Dal-United and Congress and said it would contest the polls by forming a third front with Left and other parties.
"The way they ditched us while deciding on seats, it seems there is no room left for talks with it...It seems we are left with only one option," NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar had said on Thursday.
The Samajwadi Party, though, has remained silent over the participation of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in tomorrow's rally of the 'grand secular alliance'.
Bihar SP chief Ramchandra Singh Yadav said Mulayam Singh Yadav had called party secretary general Kiranmoy Nanda to Lucknow on hearing the announcement made by Prasad.
"We are awaiting a final word on participating in the rally tomorrow," the Bihar SP chief told reporters.