Lalu Prasad Yadav to skip Sonia Gandhi’s Iftar party

PATNA: Lalu Prasad will not attend Sonia Gandhi’s Iftar party in Delhi on Monday. While the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader said he had already scheduled a march to the Raj Bhawan in Patna the same day, several political observers feel the decision reflects Prasad’s annoyance with the Congress for forcing him to accept chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar as the leader of the secular alliance in Bihar.

The RJD boss, who will lead a march to the Raj Bhawan to protest against the non-disclosure of caste-wise numbers of the OBC data of the socio-economic caste census on Monday, also explained he had also planned his Iftar party on the same day.

"Unnecessary things are being said over Laluji’s nonparticipation in the Iftar party. Should we cancel the Raj Bhawan march, which we take out to press for the release of the caste data of the socio-economic caste census?" said RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha.

"Laluji’s relationship with Soniaji’s has always remained warm and cordial. So if he is not going to Delhi, it does not mean he is ignoring the Congress," Jha told ET.

Interestingly, chief minister Nitish Kumar will skip Prasad’s Iftar to attend the Congress chief ’s Iftar. "I do not know who is going to Delhi or not, but, yes, I will be there in Sonia Gandhi’s Iftar," Kumar said. State Congress chief Ashok Choudhary downplayed the incident, saying the date for the RJD’s protest march had been finalised earlier.