Patna, Jan. 29: The mistrust of chief minister Nitish Kumar in the Grand Alliance is growing.

Ally Congress doubts the JDU's logic behind backing out of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in February. Though the RJD has welcomed the move officially, in private its leaders admit they are unsure of Nitish's plans.

Since the time the chief minister started supporting demonetisation, the perception within the Congress is that the JDU is moving away from the anti-Narendra Modi front. "The reading in Delhi and Patna party headquarters is that Nitish ji is helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi by not allowing the JDU to contest the UP polls," said a senior Congress leader. "Nitish's candidates would have got the Kurmi votes in UP. The Kurmis are traditionally BJP voters. We are silent because we have been asked by the central leadership not to give birth to a crisis and give JDU a reason to snap ties with us."

The JDU announced on Wednesday that it would not contest the UP elections. However, it could not hide its bitterness over being left out of the Samjawadi Party-Congress alliance. JDU secretary-general K.C. Tyagi declared that the party would not contest the polls and lamented that a Bihar-style alliance could not be formed in UP. He said his party would not support any combination. "From Patna we will pray that the secular forces win in UP," JDU minister Lallan Singh said.

"There can be many reasons for not contesting the polls outside Bihar," said a Congress leader. "Perhaps the JDU is not confident enough to face the polls alone or they may be angry over the Congress-Samajwadi Party's refusal to give them nominal seats in UP. But Nitish could, at least, have appealed to voters to vote for the alliance that has a party which is also part of the Grand Alliance in Bihar."

The Congress leader also recalled senior JDU leader Sharad Yadav's remark on Tuesday that the Congress is now weaker than in the post-Emergency days.

Bhai Virendra of the RJD said Nitish's niti aur niyat (policy and motive) were both unclear. "Nitishji is always warming up to his old friends in the NDA, particularly Narendra Modi," Virendra said.

"It sends out a message to party workers and people that he can switch sides. There is rampant corruption at the grassroots. Party workers complain that government officials demand money to carry out even trivial work. The workers and MLAs do not get any respect from the officials."

While allies are worried over what's on Nitish's mind, his own partymen seem baffled over the JDU's future. "The decision on the UP polls has led to speculation among our party workers that we are returning to our old ally. The fact that state Congress leaders are openly siding with Lalu ji on all issues is only fanning the perception. Despite an alliance with the RJD at the grassroots, there are a lot of complaints from our workers against their style of functioning," said a JDU MLC.

For the moment, though, even JDU leaders are ruling out any political upheaval. "Nitish even met RJD and Congress workers at 1 Aney Marg recently. But who knows about the future," the JDU MLC said, adding that he would not be surprised if there is political turmoil after the UP polls.