Bihar: Congress to back Nitish Kumar as CM candidate, sidelines 'old friend' Lalu

Patna, June 1: Congress will support Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate for Bihar assembly elections, which will be held later this year, and not its former ally and friend RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

"If Lalu and Nitish are not able to secure the alliance and the Congress has to choose between two, this time it is keen to go with Nitish," said a senior leader of Congress was quoted by NDTV as saying.

The decision over the same was taken by Congress after Bihar Congress President Ashok Choudhary met party vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday.

Earlier last year, Congress-RJD-JD(U) forged an alliance during Bihar by-polls to tackle rival BJP. Congress has been supporting JD(U) ever since it parted ways with BJP in 2013.

Congress' decision comes in the wake of differences between JD(U) and RJD over seat sharing and rift over declaring Nitish Kumar as chief ministerial candidate. RJD is opposed to declaring Nitish as CM candidate of the alliance. While Congress has now come in support of Nitish Kumar.

Earlier last week, former Bihar CM and a JD(U) defector met Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicking up speculations of forging an allaince with the BJP during Bihar assembly elections.

The Congress had won four of the 243 seats it contested in the last elections and nine of the 51 seats it had contested in 2005.

OneIndia News