If it comes to a choice between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, the Congress will back the latter for the chief minister's post in Bihar sources told NDTV. The assembly elections in the state will be held later this year.
A senior leader of the party told NDTV, "If Lalu and Nitish are not able to stitch together the alliance and the Congress has to choose between two, this time it is keen to go with Nitish."
The decision was made on Saturday after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi held a meeting with Bihar Congress President Ashok Choudhary.
The Congress has been supporting the state's JD(U) government since Mr Kumar parted company with the BJP in June 2013.
On Thursday, after a week of hints, Mr Prasad's RJD finally commented that Mr Kumar could not be the Chief Ministerial candidate of an alliance "that includes us".
But now that Mr Prasad has indicated that he is all for a tough negotiation, the Congress, the leader said, wants the two socialist chiefs to expedite the alliance talks and clear the confusion.
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