Soon after Laloo arrived here this morning with Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, the two began meetings with Opposition leaders who had opposed Central Government's move of bringing the State under President's Rule.

Significantly, the two RJD leaders did not meet any senior Congress leaders for long (though they had a brief interaction with Madhavrao Scindia and Manmohan Singh during the book release function of Mulayam Singh Yadav).

However, later in the day Laloo told The Indian Express that he is scheduled to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the next couple of days.

A visibly happy Rabri, sitting next to her husband, said the hue and cry raised by the BJP and Samata Party against Bihar was just a bahana (excuse) to get her Government dismissed.

``The fact remains that law andorder situation in Bihar is far better than that in many other states,'' he remarked and asserted that there was no breakdown of constitutional machinery in the State.

Lashing out again at Governor Sunder Singh Bhabdari, Laloo said the Governor's post did not suit the man. ``He should go back to the Sangh Parivar, where he belongs,'' he held, adding that the people of Bihar had seen through the Central Government's lie.

Expressing his gratitude to President KR Narayanan for turning down the Government's proposal to sack Rabri Devi's Government, Laloo said he was also thankful to those Bharatiya Janata Party allies who opposed the move tooth and nail.

Earlier in the day, the RJD chief held an hour-long closed-door meeting with his Rashriya Loktantirk Morcha (RLM) partner Mulayam Singh Yadav. Later, the two along with the Chief Minister, met CPM's Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Communist Party of India's AB Bardhan.

Surjeet, however, refused to say much about the meeting or its outcome. ``We are aware thatwe cannot fight alone,'' he said, but stressed that ``we will try to defend secularism in the best possible way and these things will be discussed later in detail.''

Laloo, who will leave for Patna Monday, is all set to come back to New Delhi soon. ``There is this unfinished task of bringing as many opposition leaders into the fold as possible to counter the BJP. We shall decide our next course of action after more meetings with them,'' he said.

Basking in the limelight yet again and hugely enjoying the public attention, what could Laloo do better than spend a large part of the day with the media? Hopping from one television studio to another with a large group of partymen in tow, he obliged several private channels with interviews. Even during their brief stay in the Capital, Laloo and Rabri made sure the spotlight remained on them.