Lalu meets Sonia Gandhi

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Saturday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi amid reports that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged recruitment irregularities in the ministry during his tenure.Lalu Prasad, along with his close aide and former minister Premchand Gupta, held talks with Gandhi for 30 minutes.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Gupta downplayed the issue of a possible CBI inquiry and said it "did not come up" in the meeting.

The media reports have quoted CBI sources as saying that a request for probe was received from the railway ministry. Unnamed railway ministry officials have also said the ministry has sought a CBI investigation into the job scam.

Gupta said they met the Congress chief to discuss the possibility of forming a secular alliance in Jharkhand, where assembly elections are due by early next year.

In the recent assembly by-elections in his home state Bihar, Lalu prasad's RJD and its ally, Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janashakti Party (LJP), have donwe far better than they did during the April-May general elections. RJD also won a by-election to the Okhla assembly constituency in Delhi.