Congress rules out post-poll alliance with RJD in Bihar

PATNA: Congress on Tuesday rubbished reports of its parleys with RJD and ruled out any post-poll pact with the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led party in Bihar.

"We rule out post-poll pact with the RJD of Lalu Prasad," state Congress President Choudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser told reporters, scotching reports of top leaders of the two parties holding talks in this connection.

"We rather expect the Congress would pull off a spectacular performance in this election," he said, predicting that his party would win 13-15 out of the 35 assembly seats, which went to poll in the fifth and the penultimate phase of Assembly elections on Tuesday.

Referring to reports that voters stayed away from voting in some constituencies, Kaiser said, it reflected "people's indignation against the Nitish Kumar government's apathy towards development."

"It has exposed the Nitish government's tall claim of ensuring development in Phulwari assembly constituency in the state capital, which also saw the electorate staying away from voting during the day," he said.

The last and sixth phase of polls will take place on November 20.