Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for snapping ties with the 'mahagathbandhan' and aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Addressing a press conference, visibly infuriated Lalu said, “Nitish Kumar is greedy for power, he has betrayed the people of Bihar and India.”

Coming down heavily on the Janata Dal (United) leader, the RJD chief said, Nitish joined hands with BJP to ensure that CBI, ED continue to raid RJD leaders in order to malign them.

Putting on a brave face, Lalu said his idea of a grand alliance to counter the resurgent BJP is still on.

“So what if Nitish has gone to the BJP, we will bring in Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee together.”

Further hitting out at his ex-alliance partner, the former Bihar chief minister said, what all happened on Wednesday, was pre-planned. “On many occasions, Nitish Kumar met PM Narendra Modi. The timing of whatever happened was already fixed,” Lalu said.

Continuing his tirade against Nitish Kumar, Lalu said, “When the grand alliance won the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, I told him (Nitish) to go and rule like Lord Shiva, but unfortunately he turned out to be 'Bhasmasur'. Bhasmasur is a mythological character known for trying to destroy his creator.

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“I was never greedy, even after RJD had a majority in the Assembly, I asked Nitish to become the chief minister,” Lalu added.

Calling Nitish as an opportunist, the RJD chief said, “The 2015 election mandate was against BJP; it was to throw out Modi-Shah out of Bihar,” adding that people of Bihar are angry with JD(U)-BJP tie-up.

Nitish Kumar was on Wednesday sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the sixth time, a day after he resigned, dumped coalition partner Lalu Prasad's RJD and joined hands with the opposition BJP to reclaim his post in fast-paced manoeuvres that redrew the political landscape of the state.

In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, JD(U) has 71 MLAs and the BJP 53. The two parties together have 124 MLAs, marginally ahead of the half-way mark. Besides, they have the support of NDA allies LJP (02) and RLSP (02).

Tensions simmered between the two alliance partners ever since the CBI registered a case against Lalu Prasad, his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi in a land-for-hotels case.

The offence was allegedly committed when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA government. He was allegedly instrumental in handing over the maintenance of two hotels of Indian Railways-owned PSU ICRTC to two Patna businessmen in return for a prime plot of land in the Bihar capital where his family is now constructing a shopping mall.