Patna: Bihar’s ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) headed by Lalu Prasad Thursday hit out at chief minister Nitish Kumar, its own ally, a day after his party decided to support the BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate.

The opposition is against Ram Nath Kovind’s name being finalised as presidential candidate without formally consulting them.

“Nitish Kumar [is trying] to weaken opposition unity. It was him who initiated the whole idea of a united opposition to oppose the BJP at the national level but, all of a sudden, he himself has extended support to the BJP’s presidential candidate,” RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told journalists on Thursday.

He said the presidential election was a great opportunity for the opposition to stand united and show their might before the ruling regime but the JD-U caused cracks in the unity.

“We will always be questioning his credentials,” said Singh who is considered very close to party chief Prasad.

He said the chief minister did not even wait for the outcome of the meeting of the opposition parties, which was being held on Thursday under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, over the issue and announced his support to NDA candidate a day before the meeting.

“We were happy when Kumar initiated the unity move in the opposition but suddenly he has supported the BJP candidate. We are shocked,” he added.

Another RJD leader, Bhai Birendra, launched even more stinging attacks at the chief minister, accusing him of being hand in glove with the BJP.

“Everyone knows he [Nitish Kumar] holds a soft corner towards the BJP but we have no problem with that. Instead of doing it covertly, he should come out in open support of the BJP,” RJD legislator Bhai Birendra told the media today.

Kumar’s JD-U remained a key ally of the BJP for 17 years until the chief minister broke alliance with the saffron partner ahead of last 2014 Lok Sabha polls shortly after hardline Hindutva leader Narendra Modi was projected as the NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate.

The JD-U, however, defended the chief minister saying the party backed the NDA’s presidential candidate for maintaining peaceful relations with the state government.

“We follow the politics of ideology. Those questioning our stand must know that we had also supported the United Progressive Alliance’s presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee in the last elections,” remarked party spokesperson Sanjay Singh.

The JD-U formally announced to support NDA Presidential candidate after holding a meeting of party leaders and lawmaker on Wednesday. “We decided to extend support to NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind for his tenure as Governor had been peaceful,” JD-U’s chief spokesperson KC Tyagi told the media last evening.

“At the same time, the JD-U will not participate in the meeting of the opposition parties to be held tomorrow in Delhi,” he also declared, dealing a serious blow to opposition unity.