Patna, June 9: Lalu Prasad will address party workers in the Patna division next Monday to explain why he conceded to Nitish Kumar being named the alliance's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming elections.

A day after Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav announced Nitish as the chief ministerial face for the Bihar elections, the RJD has gone into explanation mode.

Originally, the party was supposed to hold a meeting at Rabindra Bhavan on Monday for discussions on preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections. Now, Lalu would address party workers at the RJD office, to explain reasons for his U-turn.

Yesterday, Mulayam announced Nitish to be the chief ministerial face of the alliance and Lalu seconded it but the declaration triggered cries of political hara-kiri. Although Lalu maintained he was ready to "gulp poison" to defeat the "communal forces" in Bihar, he intends to send his message to the grassroots.

"On the instruction of Lalu ji, the party has decided to cancel the June 15 programme at Rabindra Bhavan. Now, Laluji would first address the Patna divisional workers at 4pm. Former and current MPs and MLAs would be present too," said Mundrika Singh Yadav, secretary-general, RJD.

He added that a list of the other divisions to be addressed would be announced with consent from Lalu, who reached Patna this evening. Lalu sought to tone down the recent discord. He said: "There is no difference between Nitish and me."

He also challenged the BJP to name its CM candidate, while stating that his "gulp poison" statement should be taken in the right context. He added: "The BJP has no worthy chief ministerial candidate. They are just raising questions on our alliance."

Till recently, the RJD leaders were not ready to accept Nitish as leader of the alliance. In fact, a war of words had broken out between the parties, leading to confusion among the voters, especially the Yadavs who constitute over 15 per cent of the state's population. Mundrika said Lalu would send out his message among the cadres. "He would speak on several issues and he has already said that to defeat communal forces, he is even ready to gulp poison," he added.

A senior RJD leader said: "Lalu's main motive behind the June 15 programme is to convince the cadres and senior leaders of what made him suddenly accept Nitish as the leader of alliance."