Lalu warns of possible early poll

RJD chief eyes alliance with TMC, BSP, other regional heavyweights to take on resurgent BJP

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) headed by Lalu Prasad has asked its leaders and all secular forces to be on maximum alert, saying the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 2019 could be held earlier than that.

Prasad fears the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could opt for early elections encouraged by its success in recent state polls.

The RJD leader, whose party is a coalition partner in the ruling Grand Alliance government in Bihar headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar, expressed these apprehensions at a meeting of party leaders held at his residence on Sunday evening.

“We all have to be on maximum alert since Prime Minister Narendra Modi could advance the Lok Sabha elections to cash in on his party’s popularity wave, which still continues,” Prasad reportedly told the media at the end of the party meeting.

He said BJP wants the national elections to be conducted together with assembly elections in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh scheduled for next year.

At the meeting, the RJD also announced plans to bring the scattered secular parties together on a single platform to effectively counter Modi in the next Lok Sabha polls.

“We will talk to all secular leaders, such as Trinamool Congress Party chief Miss Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Bahujan Samaj Party [BSP] chief Miss Mayawati to carve out a new secular block to take on the BJP,” Prasad said.