Well-placed sources in the Congress said Laloo had come out with this proposal during his recent meeting with Sonia Gandhi. He had justified his demand by saying that Singh would not be acceptable to the upper-caste people of Bihar.

Laloo has been peeved with Singh for the BPCC chief was stridently opposed to the Congress having any relations with the RJD. After becoming BPCC chief Singh had tried to provide a new direction to the party and infuse some strength into it by launching anti-RJD rallies and meetings throughout the state. He even observed a 24-hour fast and dharna in Patna.

In fact, when a section of the state Congress and central leaders were clamouring for a tie-up with the RJD, Singh had gone to the extent of opposing it and saying:``Congress can not have any relations with a corrupt party and its leader facing corruption charges.''

Sources say Sonia is aware of Laloo's attitude towards Singh. According to these sources, Laloo has even assured Sonia the victory of all Congress candidates in the coming elections if she gave him the responsibility of steering Congress activities in Bihar.

Laloo would act from behind the curtain and the state leaders would follow his dictates.

But, senior leaders have been quick to rule this out. They emphasise that having having alliance and an understanding is one thing and allowing Laloo to meddle with party activities and its poll strategy is an entirely different matter. Though Laloo has been close to Sonia and assiduously working to forge an alliance with the Congress, he is also not averse to accommodating the Nationalist Congress leaders.

Recently he had said that he was not averse to handing over the lantern (the RJD poll symbol) to Tariq Anwar during the elections. Anwar is keen oncontesting from Katihar but the ground situation is not favourable, since most of his supporters have revolted against him and expressed their loyalty to Sonia. But, this matters little to Laloo who is keen to bail out Anwar as he is a protege of Sitaram Kesri. State Congress leaders have meanwhile apprised Sonia of the ground situation in Bihar and urged her not to go about finding a replacement for Singh.