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Laloo gives tough fight to NDA

"It is our state, and we will continue to rule," Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav said today.

He was reacting to the early assembly trends in Bihar, where his party is leading in 114 seats, a loss of 69. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is ahead in 115 constituencies, a gain of 67.

The Congress is leading in 26 seats, a loss of two.

Others including the Communist Party of India, Jharkand Mukti Morcha and independents are leading in 74 constituencies.

Laloo said the fascist forces' propaganda against the Rabri Devi-led RJD government has backfired. ''The people are with us. Few people seem to have bought the non-secular forces' propaganda that there was 'jungle raj' in Bihar,'' he said.

Asked whose help he would take in forming the government, he told a television channel, "I have been fighting the communal forces. All secular forces including the Congress will help me."

Laloo is leading in the Danapur seat.

Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Kailashpati Mishra blamed his party's allies for the "average" performance of the National Democratic Alliance.

Talking to rediff.com at the BJP headquarters, he said had the seat arrangement talks materialised a few days earlier, the NDA would have been invincible.

However, he was hopeful that the alliance would manage to form the government. He said that the NDA fought the poll in face of adversities like the Naxal violence, nepotism and official bias.

Assembly Election 2000

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