Presidential poll: Don't know why Nitish is supporting Kovind despite giving a call of Sangh Mukt Bharat, says Lalu

RJD president Lalu Prasad, who has come in for a shocker after his alliance partner in Bihar, JDU and its national president Nitish Kumar decided to extend support to NDA's nominee for Presidential poll Ram Nath Kovind, said that he was surprised why Nitish took a decision to back Kovind.

Speaking to reporters in Patna, Lalu said that despite Nitish giving a call for "Sangh Mukt Bharat" couple of years back, he has supported Kovind, a man with strong RSS roots. This decision of the Bihar CM has confused the RJD boss. Lalu said that Nitish has committed a historical blunder by supporting Kovind.

"I don't know "kya khichdi paki" that Nitish decided to support Kovind. Nitish himself had spoken of Sangh Mukt Bharat. I am still sticking to this theory," said Lalu Prasad, RJD president.

Slamming the BJP of trying to exploit the caste credentials of Ram Nath Kovind, former Bihar Governor, to its advantage in the upcoming Gujarat elections, Lalu said that it was a clear case of "kahin pe nigahen, kahin pe nishana". It may be noted that Kovind comes from Scheduled Caste in Uttar Pradesh.

"Kovind belongs to scheduled caste in Uttar Pradesh and people from this caste belong to Other Backward Class (OBC) in Gujarat which is about 18% in population. Kovind has been selected by BJP keeping Gujarat polls in mind," said the RJD chief.

Raising questions over the credential of Ram Nath Kovind, he said that the former Bihar Governor was a defence witness in the former BJP National President, Bangaru Laxman's corruption case.

"Sanjay Singh of AAP has tweeted that in the defence scam in which Bangaru Laxman was caught taking bribe, Kovind was a defense witness. People are now digging out his history," said Lalu Prasad.

The former Bihar CM said that he would be speaking to Nitish today at the Iftaar party being hosted by him and try to convince him to review his decision on supporting Kovind.

"There is a massive difference between the credentials of Ram Nath Kovind and UPA's candidate Miera Kumar, who is not only a Dalit but also "Bihar Ki Beti", said Lalu.

However, despite Nitish Kumar toeing a different line on Presidential elections, the RJD chief said that he was confident of the grand alliance govt to remain intact and complete its full term in Bihar.

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