IndiaTomorrow.net,

Patna, Aug 27: The state capital of Bihar had not seen such massive rally in recent years and so it was historic. The sprawling Gandhi Maidan in the heart of Patna appeared to be full and thousands standing around the circular ground.

Besides Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi and two legislator sons, the stage featured several leading opposition leaders including Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Uttar Pradesh's former chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPI leader D. Raja and disgruntled JD-U leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari.

Most of the speakers targeted Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for breaking away from the Grand Alliance or Mahagathbandhan and forming a new government with the support of BJP, against which the Grand Alliance had secured landslide mandate in the 2015 Assembly elections.

Nitish went out of the secular alliance late in July in the wake of corruption charges against his deputy and Lalu's son Tejashwi Yadav.