At Iftar party, Lalu requests Nitish to rethink prez choice

 RJD president Lalu Prasad on Friday hosted an Iftar party at his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi’s official residence.

However, all eyes were on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was meeting Lalu a day after he reprimanded the JD(U) strongman for the “historic blunder” of backing NDA Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

The body language of the two regional satraps was enough to provide a clear evidence of cracks appearing within the Grand Alliance in Bihar.

Seated next to the RJD chief, Nitish hardly spoke to Lalu, who earlier made a fresh request to the chief minister to reconsider his decision of backing Kovind as he “was a hardcore RSS man”.

The party held at 10, Circular Road, which saw Lalu’s family, including Rabri, parliamentarian daughter Misa Bharti and sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav in full attendance, was significant as it was hosted amid a growing trust deficit between the three major allies in Bihar.

While Lalu, of late, has been charged by the BJP with amassing huge benami properties, Nitish is believed to be gradually distancing himself from the alliance partner on whose crutches he runs the coalition government in Bihar.

Nitish’s stand on Kovind has virtually split the Grand Alliance, with the Congress and RJD on one side backing Opposition nominee Meira Kumar, while the chief minister has steadfastly refused to budge from his stand on backing the NDA candidate.