Phone-a-friend : Sonia's call lifts Lalu's spirits

PATNA: A downcast RJD boss Lalu Prasad, unhappy over exit polls which gave NDA a lead in Bihar and rubbed the bad news in saying the fourth front in the state will be reduced to single digit, had his spirit unexpectedly lifted with a call from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Sonia���s telephone call to Lalu late on Wednesday night, perhaps the first since the Congress-RJD spat over seat-sharing in Bihar , was the only solace for RJD amid bad tidings from every side. ������ It was a courtesy call,������ said RJD MP from Patna Ram Kripal Yadav. Sonia���s call to Lalu assumes significance because it comes after Nitish dismissed all speculation about his joining hands with Congress at the cost breaking the alliance with BJP.

A sullen Lalu has remained confined to his Patna home, 10, Circular Road, and is refusing to meet mediapersons.
On Thursday, he held a meeting with party workers and counting agents from Pataliputra where he is pitted against JD(U) candidate Ranjan Prasad Yadav. ������ He gave a pep talk to them and tried to boost their confidence,������ said a party leader.

On exit polls, Ram Kripal said, ������ The channels are peddling a bundle of lies. The history of exit polls shows these have never done justice to our party.������ Even in 2004, the media had given only a few seats to RJD. ������ I am not surprised that the exit polls have given just six seats to RJD-LJP combine. If they (the persons carrying out the surveys) had their way, they would give us zero,������ he said adding the ���truth��� would be out on May 16.
JD(U) workers, on the other hand, were jubilant. In Nalanda, the home district of Nitish Kumar, ���havan��� was being organised for ������ making him the Prime Minister������ .

Meanwhile, Nitish returned from Delhi on Thursday morning after attending the marriage of JD(U) MP N K Singh���s daughter. He left for Bakhtiyarpur, his ancestral place, from the airport itself to take part in a observe the second death anniversary of his wife Manju Devi.