Patna: Cracks have appeared in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over who will head the coalition in Bihar.

While the Janata Dal United in a suprise move projected chief minister Nitish Kumar as the face of the coalition in Bihar, its ally the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) says the NDA would go to polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Trouble began on Sunday when the JD-U after a marathon meeting of top leaders projected Kumar as the face of the NDA in Bihar and also unilaterally announced its intention of contesting 25 of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar — a kind of arrangement existing before the JD-U broke 17-year-old alliance with the BJP in June 2013.

“Nitish Kumar is the tallest leader and the BJP, LJP (Lok Janshakti Party) and RLSP (Rashtriya Lok Samata Party) will have to approach the Lok Sabha polls under his leadership,” JD-U spokesperson Pawan Kumar Varma told journalists on Sunday evening at the end of party’s marathon meeting lasting for over four hours.

The meeting was held at the official residence of chief minister Kumar.

Another senior leader sought to paint the recent by-poll defeats as the “weakening ground” of Prime Minister Modi saying “the ground realities were changing fast after 2014, when Modi single-handedly steered the NDA to victory”.

However, the move has drawn strong protest from the BJP which said the Modi magic was very much working right now and there was no question of anyone taking his place.

“Narendra Modi is still the leader of the country and the NDA will go to polls under his leadership,” federal minister Ram Kripal Yadav told journalists on Monday adding his party didn’t attribute much importance to what others say in the media.

Yet another issue of dispute is getting maximum number of seats for the LS polls.

The JD-U raised the issue by stating that it holds the rightful claim to get lion’s share of seats in Bihar.

“The JD-U still is in the role of Big Brother. We are in alliance with the BJP after forgetting the past bitterness but it’s also a fact that the previous agreed position between us for contesting seats was 25:15,” JD-U spokesperson Ajay Alok said on Monday.

What has apparently compelled the JD-U to make demand for restoring the earlier arrangement for seat-sharing is the apprehension that it won’t getting much from the BJP.

Of the total 40 LS seats in Bihar, 31 are currently held by BJP, LJP and the RLSP which fought the elections together in 2014, thus leaving only nine seats for the JD-U. On the other hand, the JD-U which had gone it alone in the last LS polls had won only two seats.

The inside story is that the BJP is not ready to spare too much seats for the JD-U saying it was able to make spectacular performance in the last LS polls even without the JD-U and Nitish Kumar. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the NDA will improve its tally now that the JD-U being part of the alliance. The apprehension, the BJP cites, is the recent by polls in Bihar which the JD-U lost badly.