Lalu Prasad & Nitish Kumar to hold second rally today

Patna, Aug 17: Friends-turned-foes-turned-friends

and

will hold their second

in Chhapra in northeastern

and in two other places on Sunday ahead of the August 21 bypolls. The two former chief ministers of the state, who till recently were arch-rivals, recently joined hands to defeat the BJP in the state. They held their first rally in Hajipur recently where they shared stage after two decades.

Ten assembly seats in the state will go to bypolls on Thursday. The Congress has also joined hands with the two heavyweight state leaders.

Lalu Prasad and Nitih Kumar decided to bury the hatchet to take on the bigger enemy, the BJP, which recently came to power at the Centre under the leadership of Narendra Modi who became the prime minister. Both Prasad's Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and Kumar's Janata Dal (United) suffered badly in the state where they could win just four and two seats, respectively. The BJP, on the other hand, bagged 22 seats.

Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar buried the hatchet to take on the BJP

Both the RJD and JD(U) will contest in four seats each in the upcoming bypolls while the Congress will contest in two seats. The bypolls are considered the semi-final before the next year's assembly election. It will be a big prestige battle for Prasad and Kumar, particularly the latter, who had left the NDA last year following the elevation of Modi in the party's ranks, only to face a disastrous Lok Sabha poll performance. Kumar quit the post of chief minister after Modi took over as the PM.

In their first rally, both Prasad and Kumar had attacked the BJP, saying a secular alliance was needed in Bihar to counter the communal BJP.

Oneindia News