Bihar: Shah's meeting ends with smile on Nitish's face, to have dinner at CM residence

The two leaders are again scheduled to meet over dinner at the chief minister's official residence tomorrow.

Patna: BJP president Amit Shah's met with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today IN Patna where the two NDA leaders are expected to arrive at a broad understanding on seat-sharing for the 2019 general election.

Patna: BJP President Amit Shah meets Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Deputy CM Sushil Modi also present pic.twitter.com/byxP745c3A

— ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2018

At the first meet, which happened over breakfast, Deputy CM Sushil Modi was also present. Though the current CM did not give any comment, he left the venue with a smiling face. The two leaders will again meet at the chief minister's official residence where Shah is scheduled to arrive at the Bihar capital on a day-long tour. This is his first visit to the state since last year's dramatic turn around when the saffron party joined hands with Kumar's JD(U), ending four years of political hostility. BJP's national general secretary in-charge for Bihar Bhupendra Yadav, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and all the Union ministers hailing from the state including Ravi Shankar Prasad, are likely to be present at the deliberations. The NDA in Bihar also comprises the LJP and the RLSP, headed by Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Upendra Kushwaha respectively. Since both Paswan and Kushwaha were abroad and it was not clear whether anyone from the two parties would be attending any of the functions where Shah will be present. The NDA, which had won 31 of the 40 seats in Bihar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, is witnessing claims and counter-claims made by leaders of the constituents after the JD(U) returned to its fold. The old partners -- the BJP, the LJP and the RLSP -- had won 22, six and three seats respectively, while the JD(U), which had contested the polls separately with the Left parties, had managed to win only two seats. The breaking of bread by Kumar and Shah tomorrow indicates deepening of ties between the JD(U) and the BJP and buries all speculation as regards whether the chief minister would again return to the Grand Alliance. Former deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, corruption cases against whom had prompted Kumar to walk out of the Grand Alliance and return to the NDA, came up with a sarcastic tweet, recalling the 2010 episode. "Tomorrow, Nitish Kumar will offer a point-wise explanation to Amit Shah as to why he had cancelled the dinner hosted for Narendra Modi in June, 2010 and under what circumstances he was hosting another dinner now. Perhaps he will say I was strong then but now I am helpless," Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

कल नीतीश कुमार बीजेपी अध्यक्ष अमित शाह को विस्तृत बिंदुवार स्पष्टीकरण देंगे कि उन्होंने जून 2010 में नरेंद्र मोदी का भोज अंतिम क्षणों में क्यों रद्द किया था और अब मजबूरन किन परिस्थितियों में आपको भोज दिया जा रहा है?

शायद कहेंगे कि तब मैं मज़बूत था अब मजबूर हूँ। — Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) July 11, 2018

A similar comment was made by MLC Prem Chandra Mishra, a senior leader of the state Congress, which, together with the JD(U) and the RJD, had formed the Grand Alliance. (with input from agencies)