Inside story: How Nitish bust Lalu Yadav's plot to topple him

The problems are likely to worsen and the JD(U) has already started cozying up to the BJP.

The Grand Alliance in Bihar appears to be heading for a big split. The question is whether the JD(U)-RJD- Congress alliance in the state is splitting over Nitish Kumar's support to Ram Nath Kovind, the BJP's candidate set to become the next President of India.

Sources say that Nitish Kumar had no plans of derailing the grand alliance. The Bihar Chief Minister had found out that there was a plot brewing to topple him. Some in the RJD were allegedly in talks with the centre promising to topple Nitish Kumar. It is further alleged that the RJD had said it was ready to dump Nitish Kumar in exchange for help from the centre in some of the cases against its leaders.

The RJD has been facing trouble over various cases including ones filed against its supremo, Lalu Prasad Yadav and his daughter Misa Bharti. The cases have reached a boiling point and hence some in the RJD had mooted the idea of seeking help from the centre with the promise of toppling Nitish Kumar.

However Nitish realised what was cooking and immediately declared his support for Kovind after the BJP selected him as the candidate.

The problems are likely to worsen and the JD(U) has already started cozying up to the BJP. On Tuesday, the JD(U)'s spokesperson K V Tyagi reminisced about the party's alliance with the BJP which broke after 17 years. He said that they were far more comfortable with the BJP during their 17 year partnership.

"We were much more comfortable under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, but still have ideological differences with the Narendra Modi government on issues like Article 370, uniform civil code and Ram Janmabhoomi," he said.

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