Keen to regain power in Bihar after a five-year gap,RJD is set to reach out to upper castes,with its chief Lalu Prasad saying his party is not against them and wanted to work for their upliftment along with OBCs,Dalits and Muslims. RJD will contest the Bihar Assembly polls,expected to be held by November,in alliance with Lok Janshakti Party of Ramvilas Paswan but any pre-poll tie-up with Congress is unlikely as the latter is not inclined. Viewing JDU and BJP as main rivals in the upcoming polls,Prasad has decided to go beyond his traditional vote bank of OBCs,Dalits and Muslims and woo the upper castes who have been upset with him for his reported barbs against them at Begusarai about 10 years back. In an interview,he insisted that he never made any comments against the upper castes and the statements attributed to him were "false" and "concocted" by his political rivals. The reported comments of Prasad were seen aimed at provoking the backwards and Dalits to target four upper castes - Brahmin,Bhumihar,Rajput and Lala alias Kayasthas. "I am not against upper castes and never hurt their interests. Few people tried to pit upper castes against me to suit their political interests," the former Chief Minister said. "I believe in taking everybody along. Everybody from Bihar should be united. That is my appeal," he said,adding his poll plank would be to work for progress of all. Expressing confidence of getting upper caste votes in the coming elections,the RJD chief said,"They have understood who is against them and have by now also made comparisons after Nitish Kumar came to power." RJD,which ruled Bihar for 15 consecutive years from 1990,was defeated in the 2005 Assembly elections by BJP and JDU. Of this Prasad was the Chief Minister from 1990 to 1997 and his wife Rabri Devi succeeded him after he had to go to jail in fodder scam. In the 243-member Bihar Assembly,RJD is the second largest party with 56 seats. The ruling parties JDU and BJP have 81 and 54 seats respectively. Ramvilas Paswan led LJP has 12 seats and Congress 10. "We will win this election and form a government in the next election. Lalu's genie will once again come out from ballot boxes," the RJD chief claimed.
