Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday strongly denied reports that he attempted to “strike a deal” with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by offering to destabilise the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, in which RJD is a partner, reported NDTV.

“I have never discussed anything with Jaitley or [Nitin] Gadkari, I would have called [Narendra] Modi or Amit Shah,” said Yadav, whose family is being investigated in corruption cases. “I will prefer to be wiped out but will never make any ideological compromise with Modi or the Bharatiya Janata Party.” The RJD chief said he would rather face the corruption charges than ask the BJP to be soft on him.

Lalu Prasad Yadav has alleged that the BJP’s charges against him are “fabricated” and that central agencies are attempting to exact political revenge against him for criticising the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Janata Dal (United)’s allies including the RJD have been upset with Nitish Kumar, especially after he backed the National Democratic Alliance presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. While Lalu Yadav criticised the Bihar chief minister for “a historic blunder” on June 22, his son and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav advised the JD(U) chief against “political opportunism” on Sunday.

But, just when it appeared that the name-calling would destroy the Bihar grand alliance, both Kumar and Lalu Yadav patched up. On Thursday, Lalu Yadav said, “The future of our mahagathbandhan [grand alliance] is very bright.” Yadav said that his differences with Kumar over the presidential election were resolved, and that it had been a temporary blip that he will “not sacrifice the government for.” “I am not Kalidas who will cut the tree on which I’m sitting.”