New Delhi: RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) president Laloo Prasad Yadav tonight (March 22, 2004) urged Congress to field AICC (All India Congress Committee) president Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka from Lucknow against Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Talking to reporters, he said Priyanka will "expose" how the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the Sangh Parivar has been fomenting "hatred" in the country.

Yadav, at the same time, invited Priyanka to contest from Patna Lok Sabha seat. "Let Priyanka file the nomination paper and the rest of the duty will be mine," he said. He dismissed as "baseless" the charge that fielding Rahul from Amethi smacked of dynastic rule and asked why the children of politicians would not take their parents' profession.

Replying to questions on forming the secular alliance in Bihar, Yadav said seat-sharing talks were going on and the list of candidates of secular front was likely to be announced in Patna on Mar 24, 2004.

He said that he held talks with AICC general secretary incharge of Bihar affairs, R K Dhawan, on the nitty-gritty of electoral adjustments and expressed confidence that the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) would bite the dust in Bihar.

He, however, declined to reveal how many seats his party or Congress or LJP (Lok Janshakti Party) led by Ram Vilas Paswan would contest.