New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has reportedly warned his party leaders of action if they continued to target Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in his attempt perceived to assuage hurt sentiments of the crucial ally.
Reciprocating the gesture, Kumar, also the JD (U) president hinted at his party`s support to the Opposition in the upcoming vice-presidential election. 

Media reports said Gandhi intervened in favour of Nitish Kumar and instructed party leaders not to criticize the Bihar chief minister. Bihar Congress president Ashok Choudhary said that he had a meeting with Rahul Gandhi earlier this week in Delhi but refused to divulge what transpired there. 

The reports said that Rahul Gandhi, during his meeting with Choudhary, hinted that action would be taken against leaders issuing statements against Nitish Kumar. 

Rahul Gandhi was absent when the Congress-JD(U) spat broke out. 

The sparring began after senior Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad attacked Nitish Kumar for breaking ranks with the opposition+ and supporting NDA's pick Ram NathKovind for the July 17 presidential poll. 

He had alleged that Nitish Kumar wanted to ensure the defeat of 'Bihar kiBeti' Meira Kumar, who is the opposition's candidate for the poll. 

People having one ideology take one decision while those with many ideologies take different decisions, Azad had said, apparently referring to JD (U)'s long association with the BJP. 

Some state leaders of the Congress subsequently attacked Nitish Kumar, who returned the fire by questioning Congress's shift from the ideologies of Mahatama Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. 

The JD(U) chief made it clear that his party was no "pichlagoo" (camp follower) of any party. 

The war of words between the JD(U) and the Congress threatened the Grand Alliance government in Bihar, which includes the Congress and the RJD of Lalu Prasad. 

Nitish Kumar's bonding with Rahul Gandhi is well known in political circles. 

It is also known that it was at Rahul Gandhi's intervention that the Congress had put pressure on Lalu Prasad to announce Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate on the eve of the 2015 Bihar Assembly poll.