Jharkhand agreement not applicable in Bihar : Cong

Congress has given support to JMM to form the government in the central rule-bound Jharkhand and it was now up to rivals RJD and JD(U) to decide whether they would associate themselves in forming it, AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad said today.

Ahmad, who had played an active role in hammering out the agreement between Congress and JMM, told reporters that the arrangement applied only to Jharkhand and not to Bihar.

RJD has five legislators in 81-member Jharkhand assembly, while JD(U) has two.

Sources in RJD said on condition of anonymity that party president Lalu Prasad had asked Congress during the talks on formation of government in Jharkhand whether it (Congress) would be with JD(U) in Bihar too.

Prasad's concern was triggered by Congress warming up to Nitish Kumar for 'quite some time', the sources said.

Four Congress MLAs had voted for Kumar on the June 19 trust motion to bail out his government after its split from NDA partner BJP. Following it there were speculations on whether JD(U) would reciprocate to Congress in Jharkhand.

When asked, Ahmed said Congress' extending support to Nitish Kumar was 'tactical' to keep communal forces at bay and to disallow independents to 'flex muscles' as condition for supporting the JD(U) government.

There is a committee under Defence minister A K Antony which decides on the party's alliances, he added.

Ahmed hit out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for claiming to rescue 15000 Gujrati pilgrims on a day in flood-hit Uttarakhand. "Ultimately Rambo (Narendra Modi) will meet the fate of Mugambo (a villain in a Bollywood flick who is defeated and meets his end).