Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad asserted on Thursday that the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi earlier this week was “very positive” and was held in a “cordial atmosphere”.

Lalu also categorically rejected suggestions that the Opposition alliance was crumbling and added that neither he nor Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar were annoyed with the developments in the latest meeting.

“The meeting of INDIA was a very positive one and was held in a cordial atmosphere. However, some media persons with vested interests, who have sold themselves to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will always project opposite things to whatever we decide,” Lalu told reporters after returning from Delhi.

Pointing out the news circulating in various sections of the media that he and Nitish were angry with INDIA and walked out of the meeting in the national capital on Tuesday, Lalu said that nothing could be further from the truth.

“When the meeting was over, all the leaders did not attend the media conference. Only a few people, who had to speak, went to it. Whatever happened at the meeting was shared with the media. Neither Nitish nor I am angry at the alliance. We all are united and working together,” Lalu added.

Talking about the decisions at the meeting, Lalu claimed that the seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls would be taken ahead and finalised quickly. “All is well in the alliance,” he said.

The speculations about the two top politicians of Bihar being peeved with the Opposition alliance stemmed from Nitish being overlooked for the position of INDIA’s convenor — something that leaders from his Janata Dal United (JDU) had often demanded.

Moreover, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal proposed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition.

4 youths die of suffocation

Jamshedpur: Four youths from the neighbouring state of Bihar died of suffocation, likely from the smoke of the coal stove kept inside the closed room to beat the chill, in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand on Wednesday night.

Three more youths who were also inside the room have been admitted to a private nursing home in the district.

Hazaribagh deputy superintendent of police (headquarters), Rajeev Kumar said that the bodies of the four youths have been sent for post-mortem to Sadar Hospital.

ANIMESH BISOEE