NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad will share the political stage during the Bihar elections , authoritative sources have told the TOI.

The RJD chief is set to miss Rahul’s rally in Champaran to launch the Congress campaign on Saturday and has instead nominated his son Tejaswi for the event. Senior leaders recently visited him to extend a personal invite.

While the absence will deepen the perception about the mutual discomfiture of the two leaders, especially of the Congress heir apparent, sources said the prolonged Bihar campaign will settle the speculation for good.

According to a key strategist, Rahul and Lalu will address public meetings from a joint stage, and it may happen more than once.

Ever since Rahul scuppered the UPA ordinance to save convicted lawmakers from disqualification, leading to Lalu being shut out of Parliament, the buzz has been that the Congress scion was reluctant to be seen close to the Yadav chieftain.

Rahul’s bold bid to force Lalu’s hand in accepting Nitish Kumar as chief ministerial candidate of the alliance further reinforced the belief about the former’s wariness with the convicted chieftain.

But sources stressed Lalu’s decision to skip Rahul’s Saturday rally was on account of his pre-occupation with candidate selection and not an attempt to get back at the young leader for his ordinance slight. “We are sure Lalu and Rahul will be on the same stage during this election,” a senior manager said, underlining it was going to be a long campaign and the schedules were being drawn up.

If it happens, the Lalu-Rahul frame will be worth a thousand words given the speculation its absence has spawned during these months. The first inference would be that Rahul was willing to dirty his hands in realpolitik and did not mind supping with a tainted politician despite his famous “throw this ordinance in the dustbin” remark.

However, Congress managers argued that Rahul lived up to his principles on political integrity by ensuring that the controversial ordinance was junked, and had nothing more to prove on the issue.

