Nitish Kumar addresses a news conference in Patna on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, July 2: Nitish Kumar today said he would like Pranab Mukherjee to choose Bihar — the janmbhoomi and karmbhoomi of the first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad — for his maiden visit once he makes Rashtrapati Bhavan his home.

“Pranabda is a senior statesman of the country. He has also been leader of the Lok Sabha. That is why we have decided to support him,” Nitish said on the sidelines of his weekly janata darbar at his 1 Aney Marg residence, the first time the chief minister has explained why he chose to break ranks with the BJP.

By re-iterating his support to Mukherjee, Nitish also tried to strike an emotional chord with Bengal. “Bengal has an old history. It has rich cultural and intellectual heritage. Moreover, Bihar and Bengal share a long and very strong relationship,” the chief minister said.

“India had its first President from Bihar. I strongly felt that Bengal — which previously had Bihar as its part and is now our friendly neighbouring state — must have its representative as the President,” Nitish said.

The chief minister also stressed that he wasn’t looking for anything in return from the central government. “Our support to Pranabda is not based on any give-and-take formula,” he added.

The chief minister, however, clarified that the JD(U)’s support to Mukherjee should in no way be interpreted as backing for the UPA and its policies. “Our support is for Pranabda as the presidential candidate. The President is not a political post,” he said.

Nitish announced his party’s agitation programme against the UPA’s “neglect of Bihar”. “We will organise an adhikar (rights) rally at the Gandhi Maidan here on November 6 to press for special category status to the state and several other demands related to coal linkage to the state’s power projects,” he said.

“The rally at Gandhi Maidan will be followed up with another rally at the Ramleela ground in New Delhi,” he said.

Replying to a query related to Turning Point: A Journey Through Challenges — the new book of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam — Nitish said: “His (Kalam’s) writing has proved that the duly elected Bihar Assembly in February 2005 was dissolved without a single sitting which even the Supreme Court declared unlawful. Kalam’s book has proved our allegations that the elected representatives were not given proper time to form the government.”

Nitish said the UPA government should accept its blunder and tender an open apology to the people.

He, however, refused to comment on the book’s claim that then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee was “not keen” on Kalam visiting Gujarat after the 2002 riots. “It was a conversation between two persons,” Nitish said, disassociating himself from his party president Sharad Yadav on the issue.