RJD president Lalu Prasad on Friday said he committed a "big blunder" by taking Congress support for survival of the Rabri Devi government in Bihar in 2000 and backing the UPA at the Centre.
"AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said in Patna that the Congress-RJD alliance in Bihar was a mistake. Actually it was a big blunder committed by us by taking support of the Congress for the sake of survival of the Rabri Devi government in 2000," Prasad told PTI in Patna.
"We supported Congress at the Centre and took its support in Bihar for the sake of keeping communal forces at bay," he said adding the Congress would not remain a force to defeat the RJD-LJP alliance in Bihar in the Assembly elections later this year.
"It is unfortunate to hear something different from Congress leaders at this stage. The entire country knows the kind of sacrifice we made for the survival of the Congress at the Centre because of political compulsions."
Hitting out at Gandhi for his statement that the support to the RJD was a "mistake", Prasad said the Congress leader had no moral right to speak about it.
"He is visiting colleges, universities as well as schools for making political statements and we cannot endorse it... It is quite surprising that universities, schools and colleges permitted the use of their premises for political meetings," Prasad said.
Asked whether his support to UPA-II at the Centre would continue, the RJD chief said, "I have told you everything (indicating that the support continues because of compulsions)". PTI
