File photo of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
A trusted aide of Lalu Yadav has served fresh evidence that the proposed alliance between his Rashtriya Janata Dal and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United is just not gelling as assembly elections draw closer in Bihar.
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has again said that Nitish Kumar cannot be projected as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the RJD will be a part of.
"I don't think Nitish's candidacy will make any difference to alliance prospects. The Chief Minister should be decided after the elections," said Mr Singh much like last wee, this time adding, "I will say it a thousand times. Nitish should not be named the chief ministerial candidate."
The RJD leader's latest statement comes less than a day after the JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav met Lalu Yadav, reportedly to paper over differences.
Nitish Kumar would only say when asked about Mr Singh's comments, "People say a lot of things, why should I go into that? I don't think everyone should be speaking. I also don't want to speak...I don't want to react to everything."
And Lalu Yadav said, "Nobody should question our willingness to form an alliance. For everyone who asks who the CM will be, I don't want to talk through newspapers, we will sit together and discuss."
But there was a broad hint from Mr Singh on where his words come from. "The big leaders, they give orders to fire. We are mere soldiers, we just carry out their orders," said the national vice-president of the RJD.
Lalu and Nitish, rivals for a few decades, were brought together last year by the common need to stall the BJP, which made massive gains in Bihar in the national election. Months later the two stalwarts tested the ground for a partnership, along with the Congress, in bye-elections for 10 seats. They won six.
But just as they were in talks to take that alliance further in a mega coming together countrywide of parties with socialist roots, matters seem to come unstuck over the top job in Bihar.
Lalu Yadav, a former chief minister, cannot run for office because of an earlier conviction in a corruption case.