No cakewalk for Guruji

Though Soren on Sunday declared that withdrawing support at the Centre was not his agenda right now, party sources said nothing could be ruled out yet. Sudhir Mahato, the JMM Deputy Chief Minister, even threatened to align with others if the UPA did not fulfil Guruji8217;s demand.

In fact, despite expressing their willingness to support Soren8217;s candidature, the Congress and the RJD have remained neutral so far. Sources said RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose love for Koda is well known, has instructed his MLAs not to back Soren. The JMM is also aware that it8217;s only under Lalu8217;s pressure that the Congress leadership was shying away from getting actively involved in a change of leadership. 8220;We know that Lalu is the main roadblock. But this time we could take any extreme step and we will communicate this to the Congress,8221; remarked a JMM leader.

Meanwhile, the NDA is still weighing its options. 8220;Our options are not closed. Ahead of the trust vote our leader Nitish Kumar was keen to support Soren as CM. We will take a fresh look after reviewing the developments,8221; a top JDU leader said.