After months of bickering, Nitish, Lalu say ties firm

PATNA: Sharing space at an official function after taking separate positions on a variety of issues in recent months, chief minister Nitish Kumar (JD-U) and RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday used the occasion to send across a message that all was well within the ‘grand alliance’.

Speaking at the commissioning of the Ara-Chapra and Digha (Patna)-Sonepur bridges across the Ganga, Kumar also slammed the BJP for creating doubts in the mind of the people about a possible ‘rift’ in the alliance.

The RJD chief, too, was unsparing in his attack on the BJP, saying those casting doubts about the grand alliance’s future would be proved wrong, just as they were when the alliance chose Kumar as chief minister, after its November 2015 landslide victory, even though the RJD had won more seats than the JD(U).

The reiteration of the unity of the grand alliance by its top two leaders came after months of bickering between the allies.

Kumar was said to be upset with Prasad’s inability to curtail outbursts against him by senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, just as Prasad was unhappy with Kumar for not defending him and his family on BJP leader Sushil Modi’s allegations suggesting they held dubiously sourced properties.

The relations soured to such an extent that when the income tax authorities last month raided 22 properties allegedly associated with Prasad, the RJD chief made a cryptic remark suggesting the BJP-led NDA had found ‘another ally’, which was read by many as a reference to Kumar.

However, on Sunday, the buzzword was unity.

Prasad said Kumar’s silence on matters related to the RJD should not be seen as a sign of rift. Kumar reciprocated by saying he did not comment on trivial matters. On the BJP’s leadership’s charges against Prasad and his government, the CM said: “We have sympathy for those who have not got the mandate”.