NEW DELHI (TIP): Even as the party attacks Nitish Kumar for not acting against RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family in alleged graft cases, BJP sees the Bihar CM’s support to NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind as a serious division in the alliance rather than an “isolated” act.

A senior BJP member said Kumar’s support to Kovind was reminiscent of his stance when he had supported UPA’s presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee in 2012 despite being part of NDA. Subsequently, Kumar parted ways with the NDA.

“By support to the NDA nominee, Kumar has expressed displeasure with RJD and Congress and the ‘mahagathbandhan’ will not last six months,” he claimed. The party is keenly seeing what Kumar’s position on the vice-president’s election will be.

BJP’s optimism is in contrast to remarks by JD(U) members like K C Tyagi, who said Kumar’s support to Kovind did not have political ramifications beyond the presidential poll. However, while reacting to RJD and Congress’s criticism of the CM, even Tyagi has recalled JD(U)’s alliance with BJP when Vajpayee was PM.

BJP feels the CM is keen to differentiate himself from his partners. “Candidature of Meira Kumar was a known secret. Kumar could have waited for two days. But he had made up his mind and Kovind’s selection made it easy for him,” the BJP member said. He said Meira Kumar’s particular Scheduled Caste was a sizeable one in Bihar and it could have been a poll ploy to support her. “But a large section of JD(U) wanted to join hands with BJP.”

After support for demonetisation, the latest trigger for Kumar to explore a break-up with the ‘mahagathbandhan’ is premised on several factors, including possibility of legal action against Lalu’s family members. The CM, it is felt, has also realised the futility of forging a grand national alliance against BJP since Congress is unlikely to formally back anyone for PM other than Rahul Gandhi.

PREZ POLL FIGHT BETWEEN IDEOLOGIES, SAYS MEIRA

PATNA (TIP): Opposition’s presidential pick Meira Kumar has described her electoral fight with NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind as a contest between two ideologies — communalism and secularism.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker was interacting with Bihar’s ruling Congress and RJD legislators at a posh hotel in Patna on Thursday, ten days before the election is to be held on July 17. The other ruling ally, JD (U), has announced support to Kovind.

“Our country is standing at the crossroads… There’s complete darkness on one side where people are being divided on religious and caste lines and the poor being suppressed for political advantage.

We (read the parties supporting her) are on the other side, trying to help the suppressed sections. This is what we have been doing since ages,” she said, alleging people today were afraid of even walking beside a cow.

Thanking RJD chief Lalu Prasad who was the first politician after Congress president Sonia Gandhi to call her, Meira said he told her about his support. “I knew he would support me for I have seen him lead the people of Bihar in stalling nefarious attempts to communalise the country in the past,” she said and hoped history would be repeated with her win.