Lalu, Sharad try to mollify Mulayam

New Delhi, Sep 4: RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD-U chief Sharad Yadav on Friday met Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav here to mollify him, a day after SP announced quitting the anti-BJP alliance in Bihar, saying it felt "humiliated" after not being consulted for seat sharing.

Getting into damage control Prasad, whose daughter is married to the SP chief's son, rushed to the national capital from Patna and called on the SP chief at his residence where he was joined in by JD-U President Sharad Yadav to discuss ways to salvage the alliance.

While there was no word from the SP today a day after it held a press conference in Lucknow to announce the break-up over being offered only five seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the JD-U President put up a brave face saying "everything will be settled".

He will also be visiting Patna to discuss the issue with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The JD-U chief had half-an-hour long meeting with Mulayam last night after which he had claimed that the alliance will remain intact like it was before in Bihar with Samajwadi Party being a part of it.

Earlier, addressing a press conference in Lucknow yesterday, the SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav had announced the party's decision to leave the alliance saying it felt "humiliated" as it was not consulted while deciding seats and would contest the Assembly election in the state on its own.

Soon after, the JD-U President had held a press conference in which he said that he would find a "solution" after talking to "Bhai (brother) Mulayam". The SP Chief is also the leader of the proposed umbrella party of six erstwhile constituents of Janata Parivar.

The JD-U chief has dismissed suggestions that SP was "playing into the hands of BJP", a speculation which gained grounds after Mulayam had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi some time back while party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav reportedly met BJP Chief Amit Shah on Monday.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also exuded confidence that the issue would be resolved and SP would return to the secular grouping.

"We are trying to figure out as to what happened that SP took the decision to quit the grand secular alliance," he told reporters in Patna.

PTI