'Nitish to be CM candidate in Bihar polls'

Bihar's ruling JD-U said on Tuesday that only Nitish Kumar will be the chief ministerial candidate of its alliance with the RJD, the Congress and the NCP in the next Bihar assembly polls.

"...Nitish Kumar will be the chief ministerial candidate of our alliance in the upcoming polls," state Janata Dal-United (JD-U) president Vashisht Narain Singh and Bihar minister Shyam Razak told media here.

Vashisht Narain Singh and Razak also said that the elections will be contested under Nitish Kumar's leadership.

The JD-U leaders' statement has come a day after Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the projection of Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate will be harmful to the RJD-JD-U alliance.

"JD-U will not make any compromise over the leadership issue of the alliance," the two leaders said.

"It appears that Raghuvansh Prasad Singh is on a pay roll of BJP...," Razak said.

Speculation was rife in political circles here since Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's statement that Nitish Kumar's projection will cause loss of face because several communities - like Mahadalits, over three lakh contractual school teachers and 70,000 Home Guards - were unhappy with him.

Vashisht Narain Singh and Razak, considered close to Nitish Kumar, also warned a senior JD-U leader and Bihar Minister Ramai Ram, who said that leader of the alliance should be elected after the polls.