Miffed with RJD, Nitish confirms Cong talks

May tie up with party for Bihar Assembly polls

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said that his alliance talks with the Congress was moving in the right direction and nobody should have any doubts over the new emerging political equations.

Nitish assertions comes a day after the Congress threw its weight around the JD(U) strongman, arguing that it would back him as the chief ministerial candidate for Assembly elections slated for October-November this year.

“The Congress supported us in the Assembly when the JD(U) and the BJP parted ways in 2013. It supported us again on the floor of the House when I was sworn in as chief minister this year. Alliance talks (for Assembly polls) are moving in the right direction,” said Nitish, who is believed to be miffed with the RJD chief Lalu Prasad for not projecting him as the chief ministerial candidate of the secular alliance.

Deccan Herald had carried a report “Nitish may dump RJD alliance” on May 26, which indicated that Nitish may prefer aligning with the Congress and the Left instead of joining hands with Lalu.

Lalu, following his conviction in fodder scam, is not eligible to contest any election for six years.

Though the RJD chief may publicly swear that he was making all efforts to forge a grand secular alliance to stop the BJP’s march in Bihar, it’s true that his voters (mostly the numerically strong Yadavs who constitute 14 pc of the electorate), have little sympathy for Nitish. These constituents feel that it’s the JD (U) leaders like PK Sahi and Lallan Singh, the petitioner in fodder scam, due to which Lalu was put in jail and later debarred from contesting polls.

“We are not comfortable with Nitish’s projection as the CM as two large segments – Yadavs and Mahadalits (nearly 15 pc electorate) - are unhappy with Nitish. Mahadalits are nursing a grudge against Nitish due to unceremonious removal of Jitan Ram Manjhi as the chief minister. Hence, we have not approved his candidature as it involves a great amount of political risk,” explained RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

Meanwhile, Nitish on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing yet another Ordinance for land acquisition. “Besides, his flip-flop over ‘One rank, One pension’ also shows that it was another jumla (gimmick) much like the widely-publicised kala-dhan (black money). Modi has completed 20 per cent of his five-year tenure, but has done precious little for the country,” lamented Nitish.