The Nitish Kumar led JD(U) has almost made up its mind to back BJP’s Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind even if the Congress led UPA decided to field its own candidate. The indications during the last two days by Nitish have send the message loud and clear that Bihar CM will adopt a path different from his allies.
On Tuesday, Nitish attended an iftar party hosted by the Bihar Congress at its headquarters Sadaquat Ashram, he politely declined to have a private talks with senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who specially flown in here to attend the party and discuss the issue with Nitish.
On the other hand, Nitish had discussion with some select leaders of his party on Tuesday to chart out his strategy and as sources said on Wednesday too he would continue his discussion. It was also not clear if he would attend the June 22 meeting in Delhi in which all the non-BJP parties are likely to send their representative and take a call on fielding their common candidate.
By stating that he was personally happy over the selection of Bihar Governor Kovind for the top constitutional post Nitish gave a clear indication of his preference even though he had been saying till Monday that the ruling alliance should try for a consensus. The BJP did not consult him before finalising its candidate but Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly called Nitish to tell him about Kovind’s selection.
In view of the attitude of Nitish, it is expected that he would adopt a different line and what what he did five years back when he had decided to support Congress candidate Pranab Mukherjee despite being a part of NDA. Nitish’s that stand had also created ripples in the NDA circle.
JD(U) national secretary Shyam Rajak said that Nitish always put national interest on top while taking a call on major issues. Party sources said that after having discussion with party leaders, Nitish might try to convince leaders of other parties for the need to support Kovind instead of putting up a symbolic fight. The Bihar CM was also in touch with his Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav besides BSP chief Mayawati.