Patna: The simmering tension in the Grand Alliance over presidential nominees refuses to ease as JD(U) on Tuesday warned its ally Congress to refrain from making "unwarranted" remarks against its president and chief minister Nitish Kumar as such statements could "shorten the life of alliance in Bihar". JD(U) had sent its partner RJD on the back foot on Monday by asking its boss Lalu Prasad to stop his party leaders from speaking against Nitish or it could jeopardize the alliance government.Referring to the bickering over Nitish's support to NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind against 'Bihar ki beti' Meira Kumar, JD(U) secretary general K C Tyagi said the party's alliance with BJP for 17 years was "sahaj" (comfortable). "We were much comfortable under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, but still have ideological differences with the Narendra Modi government on issues like Article 376, Uniform Civil Code and Ram Janmabhoomi," Tyagi clarified.Reacting to senior Congress functionary Ghulam Nabi Azad's jibe at Nitish on Monday that "those who have one principle take one decision and those who have many take different decisions", Tyagi told TOI, "Senior leaders like Azad should refrain from giving such statement on Nitish ji. It is quite provocative and may lead to differences in our alliance as well."Tyagi said Congress decision to field Meira was out of arrogance. "Majority of the opposition parties were looking forward to a non-Congress candidate. Even our understanding with Left parties in Chennai favoured Gopal Krishna Gandhi (former West Bengal governor) for the race," Tyagi said, adding JD(U) is not part of the UPA and any decision of UPA partners is not binding on them.Lapping Tyagi's statement, Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai remarked, "Tyagi rightly said they were comfortable with BJP. Development of Bihar is not possible with such deep rift between Nitish ji and his alliance partners."But, when Lalu and his son and deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav tried to douse the fire, senior RJD functionary Shivanand Tiwari on Tuesday blamed Nitish for weakening the opposition unity. "Nitish's decision to support NDA's presidential nominee has badly affected opposition unity. It was Nitish who floated the idea of opposition parties' alliance against the Modi government," Tiwari said and ruled out the possibility of Nitish breaking the alliance in Bihar and going back to BJP. "If it happens, Bihar BJP leaders would 'cure' him," Tiwari said.Meanwhile, Nitish called a meeting of his party spokespersons on Tuesday morning and asked them to give statements only to that extent to which the other allies are speaking, sources said. Party spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan said it was a routine meeting.Sources said Lalu also called up Nitish last night after removing his party's spokesperson Ashok Kumar Sinha and summoning motormouth Maner MLA Bhai Virendra to end the war of words between the two parties over the past few days on the presidential election issue.

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