File photo of RJD chief Lalu Yadav

The Congress has decided to ally with regional powerhouse Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar for the national elections.Sources said the political partnership was finalised on Monday at a meeting in New Delhi between Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Yadav, who was recently released from jail after being granted bail in a corruption scam dating to when he was the chief minister of Bihar.Bihar elects 40 parliamentarians. Currently, Lalu's party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal has four and the Congress has two. Ram Vilas Paswan, another regional leader, has confirmed that he will be a member of the alliance.

In the 2004, the alliance of the Congress and Lalu allowed them to sweep the general election, but in 2009, the Congress fought the state alone, with disastrous results.