Cong cautions 'mahagathbandhan', says RJD-JD (U) spat will only benefit BJP

Patna (Bihar) [India], Sept. 13 (ANI): The Congress, which is a part of the grand alliance in Bihar, today said that repeated attacks on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar by the 'mahagathbandhan' leaders would demean the aura of the Chief Minister and in turn benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Reacting to repeated attacks on the Chief Minister by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders, Bihar Congress chief Ashok Choudhary told ANI, "The government of the grand alliance was formed on the basis of a strategy and its topmost leaders had formed the grand alliance. The JD (U) knows what its circumstances were when it had alone fought the Lok Sabha polls. Even Lalu Prasad knows he has been struggling in the state for many years...what he achieved and what he lost. The Congress also struggled alone and also with Lalu ji." Choudhary said being in the grand alliance and speaking against it is absolutely wrong. "Those who have not got accommodated in this system of the state would always demean the aura. So, those leaders must be marked and action must be taken against them," he said. The Congress leader further said making critical comments against each other by staying in the grand alliance sends out a wrong message to the people of Bihar. "Lalu Prasad Yadav had commented against Nitish Kumar...Nitish Kumar had spoken against the RJD. What is new in this? We wanted to bring together all the secular power against the BJP. This was our commitment and that's we came together. The topmost leaders of the JD (U) must have spoken to the RJD," he added while stating that the grand alliance is fully intact. RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and gangster-turned politician Mohammad Shahabuddin had earlier questioned Nitish's leadership. Shahabuddin, who was granted bail last week in the 2014 Rajiv Roshan murder case in which he is named as a conspirator, had said Nitish Kumar 'paristhitiyon ke neta hai' (a leader born out of circumstances)." Nitish later hit back at the RJD strongman, saying the people of Bihar had given the mandate to him and asked the media "not to waste time by giving mileage to such people". Raghuvansh Prasad Singh also backed Shahabuddin's lack of faith in Nitish's leadership, saying he did not agree with his appointment to the top post but obeyed the decision of the grand alliance. The Janata Dal (United) yesterday appealed to RJD boss Lalu Prasad Yadav to restrain senior leaders of his party from speaking out publicly against Nitish. (ANI)