Patna: The Congress on Friday took a dig at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for his statement that the Grand Alliance's doors stood closed for JDU president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The Congress also said that any talk of widening the ambit for the Grand Alliance will take place with RJD chief Lalu Prasad, as he happened to be a "mature" person and understood the nuances of coalition politics.

The attack - albeit without taking his name - on Tejashwi, the leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, came from All India Congress Committee secretary and party MLA from Kadwa, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, who also happens to be the in-charge secretary of the Congress' Bengal unit. Khan is also considered close to Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

"At a time when an alliance of anti-BJP forces is taking shape, the politics of shutting doors does not look good," Khan, who is often known to channel Rahul's views, told The Telegraph on Friday.

His statement came a day after Congress legislature party leader in the Bihar Assembly, Sadanand Singh, told this newspaper: "If Nitish decides to end his truck with the BJP, I will definitely request the party high command to widen the base of the Grand Alliance by uniting all secular forces."

Without taking Tejashwi's name, Khan said that no one should speak a language that sends a wrong message to potential allies. But he dropped enough hints he was targeting Tejashwi. "Some people like Kushwaha ji, we have no problems. Jitan Ram Manjhi came to our fold and we welcomed him, but it does not look good if we make any individual an issue," Khan said. "It is more about the principles and anyone who is willing to join our alliance while accepting the principles we are fighting for, the doors should not be shut."