Patna, April 1 :A senior leader of the Congress in Bihar Monday invited the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) to join hands with the UPA "to strengthen secular and democratic forces" in the country ahead of the next general elections.

"The JD-U is a secular party and it is time for it to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) and join the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) to strengthen secular and democratic forces," Sadanand Singh, former chief of the Congress's Bihar unit, told reporters here.

"It appears the JD-U will not remain with the NDA for long time. The party is bound to say good bye to the NDA sooner than later," he added.

Vashisht Narain Singh, the JD-U's state president, did not reject the offer made by the Congress leader. "It is too early to say anything on this," he said.