Lalu Prasad Yadav meets Sonia Gandhi, says will fight BJP 'tooth and nail'

NEW DELHI: RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav today met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and promised to fight BJP tooth and nail amid signs of a realignment of political forces in Bihar.

The meeting with Gandhi follows his party's decision to extend "unconditional support" to the new government of arch- rival JD(U) in Bihar.

"This is a storm. It will not last long. We will fight communalism tooth and nail. We have given unconditional support to the JD(U) government in Bihar to foil BJP's design to capture power in the state," Prasad told reporters after his meeting with Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence here.

Although RJD was tipped for a good show in Bihar over talk that JD(U) had lost ground, the Prasad-led party could manage to win only four seats. Neither could its ally Congress improve its previous tally of two seats in the state.

The RJD chief has claimed that BJP's handsome performance in the state was due to the "spread of communal poison at the grassroots".

Earlier, talking to PTI, Prasad said, "We have been supporting Congress at the Centre for a long time to check communal forces. Similarly, our support to the Jitan Ram Manjhi government in Bihar is also to check BJP and foil its design to capture power in the state.

"It is unconditional support, but we will keep monitoring the working of the government."