New Delhi:
The Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance in Bihar, which was dumped recently by Mulayam Singh Yadav, has been served new worries, this time by Mohammad Taslimuddin, a prominent lawmaker from the Rashtriya Janata Dal headed by Lalu Yadav.
Mr Taslimuddin - widely seen as his party's Muslim face across eight important Bihar districts that are together called Seemanchal - today launched a vigorous attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who will seek a third term in the Bihar assembly elections, the dates for which will be announced soon.
Nitish Kumar, said Mr Taslimuddin to NDTV, "belongs to the same political class as the BJP" and a tie-up with him will only be playing into the hands of the BJP.
Mr Taslimuddin's party chief Lalu Yadav has committed to contesting the elections in alliance with Nitish Kumar, a one-time bitter rival, and the Congress to take on the BJP.
Last week, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav walked out of the alliance, miffed at being offered only five seats to contest. His party blamed the break-up on what it said was Nitish Kumar's disproportionate attention to the Congress and has said it plans to contest all 243 seats in the state.
"First Mulayam Singh was made the head of the grand alliance. Then he was offered just three seats. He wasn't called for the alliance rally and instead Sahib Biwi and Ghulam shared the stage," Mr Taslimuddin said, referring to a big rally in Patna attended by Mr Kumar, Mr Prasad and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Seemanchal, with its 42 seats, is the only area in Bihar where the anti-BJP forces did well in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. While the SP challenge is expected to play spoiler for the alliance, Mr Taslimuddin's rebellion could hurt it even more.
"The RJD-JD(U) alliance has already suffered a setback difficult to recover from. The SP was chased away, more people will leave," warned Mr Taslimuddin. He has refused to meet an emissary sent by Lalu Yadav to calm him down.