Patna, June 24: Nitish Kumar's decision to support NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind for President has caused much heartburn within the RJD and Congress, but there is no immediate threat to the Grand Alliance.

JDU chief general secretary K.C. Tyagi said: "The JDU's support to Kovind can be seen in the light of the dignified manner in which Kovind cooperated with Nitish ji in running the affairs of the government. Kovind never indulged in any controversy. As a man of probity, Nitish has reciprocated the goodwill. Linking Nitish's support to Kovind with the Grand Alliance's health is misplaced and uncalled for."

RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who has the largest number of MLAs in the Grand Alliance and has supported Bihar ki beti Meira Kumar against Kovind, is bitterly "hurt". But asked if the latest bout of verbal sparring between the JDU and RJD would eventually lead to the demise of the Grand Alliance, RJD national general secretary, Manoj Jha said, "No way. The Grand Alliance will stay unaffected."

But Jha indicated the party's frustration with Nitish. "At a time when lynch mobs have taken the law in their hands and atrocities against farmers, Dalits and other vulnerable sections are on the rise, the countrymen need reassurance from the Opposition parties in the form of developing solidarity with them. Joining the orchestra team of the regime against the wishes of the people shall certainly be recorded by historians as an act of betrayal," he said.

Congress spokesman Harkhu Jha said, "Some TV channels might describe Nitish's support to Kovind as the signal of the break-up of the alliance. But we don't perceive any threat to the Grand Alliance."

The question being asked in Patna's political corridors is this: why did Nitish who piloted the talks of Opposition unity suddenly support the BJP's nominee? Is the non-controversial conduct of the erstwhile Dalit governor of Bihar the only guiding factor behind Nitish's support or is there larger politics involved?

Top sources close to Nitish and also in the Congress enumerated three broad reasons for the chief minister's volte face.

First, Nitish has a penchant for looking distinct in a crowd and take independent decisions on an issue. "To the chagrin of the BJP top brass, Nitish supported Pranab Mukherjee as the presidential candidate in 2012 when he was part of the NDA. He praised then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his 'economic wisdom and personal integrity' when the BJP was pillorying him on the 2G and other scams. He also praised several UPA ministers, Jairam Ramesh, P. Chidambaram included, while staying in the NDA," pointed out a senior JDU leader.

Similarly, he strongly supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation and surgical strike against Pakistan last year against the line of the Congress and RJD. "If you see Nitish's career graph, he has kept taking independent decisions while risking his relationship with his alliance partners," the JDU leader said.

Second, more than the RJD, Nitish, of late, was hurt at the Congress for not reciprocating his support to the grand old party. "Nitish bargained with Lalu to get as many as 40 seats for the Congress in Bihar in the 2015 Assembly polls and the Congress won 27, regaining its lost ground in the state. Nitish, who fiercely campaigned in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Assembly polls to take his party beyond Bihar, expected similar overtures from the Congress. But the Congress spurned him, aligning with the Samajwadi Party following which Nitish pulled out from the UP race," said a source close to Nitish.

Moreover, Nitish is said to have hinted that he wanted Gopal Krishna Gandhi as the presidential nominee at DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi's birthday celebrations in Chennai earlier this month in the presence of senior Congress leaders and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury. But the Congress and Left did not take forward Nitish's wish.

Third, Nitish had a bitter experience with the Congress's governor, Devanand Konwar, when he was in the NDA. Kovind, despite belonging to the BJP, maintained a cordial relationship with Nitish and never caused any discomfiture.