Patna, Jan. 4: Bitter foes in Bihar, the JD(U) and the RJD are now “friends” away from home. The RJD’s Manipur unit has joined the five-party People’s Democratic Front (PDF) that includes the JD(U), virtually revolting against the party’s high command.

Embarrassing the RJD chief Lalu Prasad, the party’s three MLAs have withdrawn its support from the Congress-led Secular Progressive Front government to join the Manipur People’s Party-led opposition front. The move could land Lalu in an awkward position at a time when he had been trying to woo Sonia Gandhi at the national-level.

The development has embarrassed Lalu also because his party has joined hands with his prime political foe in Bihar, the JD(U), in Manipur.

The JD(U), in alliance with the BJP, overthrew the 15-year-long Lalu-Rabri regime in Bihar in 2005. The RJD was humiliated in the 2010 Assembly elections also.

Lalu is yet to speak on the issue, while the RJD secretary general and MP, Ramkripal Yadav, denied his party’s Manipur unit joining the PDF.

“You can take it from me that we have not joined any alliance in Manipur,” Ramkripal told The Telegraph.

But the fact remains that the RJD, which withdrew its support from the Okram Ibobi Singh-led government in Manipur, has become an integral part of the PDF taking on the Congress in that state.

“We have joined the PDF and are very much a part of the Opposition alliance,” the RJD’s president in-charge of Manipur, K. Kumarjit, said.

Asked if he had sought permission from his party high command for joining the PDF, Kumarjit said: “We want to overthrow the corrupt Congress government. The ground reality warrants upon us to fight against the Congress.”

Besides, the JD(U) and the RJD, the PDF has Manipur People’s Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and the CPM. The RJD, which has three seats in its kitty in Manipur, is expecting to contest in five to seven seats in the ensuing Assembly polls in the state.

“We will put up common candidates against the Congress and its allies,” Kumarjit said.

What, apparently, has rubbed more salt on Lalu’s wound is the move of the Manipur People’s Party — the leader of the coalition in Manipur — to bring the BJP in its fold. “Though the BJP is not a part of the PDF because of some ideological differences among the coalition partners, we are working out the modalities to include the party in the broader group of opposition in our fight against the Congress,” said sources in the Manipur People’s Party.

In an obvious face-saving bid, the RJD general secretary, Ramdeo Bhandari, said: “We have made some sort of tie-up with the Manipur People’s Party. But we have nothing to do with the JD(U) and the BJP in Manipur or any other part of the country.”

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has not yet made any remarks on the development in Manipur.