West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday endorsed Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar’s candidature for the assembly elections in Bihar. Via a tweet, Banerjee urged the people of the state to vote for Kumar “for the greater need of the country and development of the state”. There is a significant Bengali population in Bihar. The third phase of the assembly elections is on October 28.

JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar welcomed Banerjee’s statement, saying that Kumar was becoming the nucleus of anti-Narendra Modi politics and asked state governments to unite against the Bharatiya Janata Party. Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that Banerjee’s appeal will have no bearing on the voters.