JD (U) questions Meira Kumar's Bihar visit

The cracks within the ruling Grand Alliance became all the more apparent when the Janata Dal (United) questioned Congress-led Opposition candidate Meira Kumar’s Bihar visit on Thursday.

“If she is really ‘Bihar ki Beti’, she should have launched her presidential election campaign from her home State,” remarked JD (U) spokesperson and Nitish’s close aide, Neeraj Kumar.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker, who reached here on a three-day State visit, is likely to meet the Congress and RJD MLAs and draw strategies how to drum up more support.

She is, however, unlikely to meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who, till Wednesday, was reported to be indisposed as he was suffering from ‘viral fever’.

On Thursday, Nitish suddenly left for Nalanda and Rajgir amid speculation that he wanted to avoid an embarrassing situation if Meira Kumar indeed sought an appointment with the Bihar CM.

Nitish, who is firmly backing NDA nominee Ramnath Kovind, is unlikely to change his preferential choice for the presidential poll. “Meira Kumar’s Bihar visit is an exercise in futility as there is a huge gap of three lakh votes between the two main opponents for the top post,” said another spokesperson of the JD (U), Ajay Alok.

The Congress party, which did not appreciate JD (U)’s tone and tenor, said Meira never intended to meet Nitish or seek the support of his 71 MLAs. “When Nitish has already pledged his support to the NDA nominee, what’s the point in meeting him,” said Bihar Congress president Ashok Choudhary, who is also Education Minister in the Nitish Cabinet.

Meira, who will visit her birth placeChandwa near Ara on Friday, will also hold talks with 27 Congress and 80 RJD MLAs at a posh hotel. Besides, she will have a separate meeting with RJD chief Lalu Prasad before leaving for Jharkhand on Saturday.