'Get married': Lalu Prasad Yadav advises Rahul Gandhi at Opposition meet

At his humorous best after a long time, Lalu also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's beard, providing some lighter moments during the otherwise serious occasion of opposition leaders' get together to find ways and means of taking on the Centre's ruling BJP in next year's Lok Sabha polls.

Lalu's characteristic wit and earthy humour were in full flow as he sat with other top leaders of opposition parties for briefing the media about the outcome of their meeting.

When Lalu's turn came to address the journos, the veteran leader began on a serious note but then suddenly turned to Rahul.

The RJD leader pointed out that Rahul had a long beard during his "Bharat Jodo Yatra", but got it trimmed after it ended. It was really funny that Rahul had started growing again, he remarked tongue-in-cheek and advised the Wayanad MP not to grow his beard further.

He also took a jibe at Modi wondering why he never got clean shaven. Modi always sported a short beard, rather than opting for a clean shaven look, he quipped.

Lalu did not stop there. He went on advising Rahul to get married soon. He also smilingly recalled how he had advised Rahul earlier to get married, but the latter paid no heed.

"This time certainly you will have to marry as we all are prepared to go for your marriage as a wedding party (Barat)", Lalu asked him with a wry smile on his face.

"Your mother used to say that you are not accepting her advice for marriage and had asked me to make you agree for marriage," the RJD leader told Rahul.

All this while the former Congress president just kept smiling.