Even as some Rashtriya Janata Dal leaders fumed and party chief Lalu Prasad made his presence felt at a meeting of Opposition parties held in Delhi to choose their candidate for the presidential election, Tejaswi Yadav, younger son of Mr. Prasad and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister, on Thursday emphatically said the JD(U)’s support to NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind would have no impact on the ruling alliance in the State.
“The grand alliance will continue in Bihar … who says what, will have no impact on the ruling alliance in Bihar,” Mr. Tejaswi Yadav told presspersons when asked about any possible crack in the grand alliance over the JD(U) backing Mr. Kovind.
The support extended by Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar to Mr. Kovind has been seen as a major snub to the Congress-led Opposition which on Thursday decided to field former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar against the NDA’s candidate.
Earlier in the day, RJD vice-president and senior party leader Raghuvansh Prasad said that it was Mr. Nitish Kumar who had first met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the RJD chief to request them for a joint presidential candidate of all secular parties but “later he turned around”.
“It’s a ploy to weaken the Opposition unity and sends a wrong signal on the grand alliance among the people … but, Nitish Kumar is not the only leader in the country,” Mr. Raghuvansh told presspersons in Patna.
RJD leader and party MLA Bhai Birendra too criticised Mr. Nitish Kumar for supporting Mr. Kovind.
“JD(U)’s stand has weakened the grand alliance in Bihar,” he said.
