LK Advani and Nitish Kumar greet each other at the National Integration Council meet
It has always been the cold war between Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar that has overshadowed meetings of Chief Ministers in Delhi. But at a key meet on communal harmony today, Mr Modi made news with his absence, while it was Nitish Kumar and LK Advani's bonhomie that dominated photo-ops.
Senior BJP leader LK Advani and Nitish Kumar greeted each other warmly this morning at the National Integration Council meet. The daylong meeting has been called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the backdrop of communal violence at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
This was the first meeting of the two leaders after the Bihar Chief Minister ended a 17-year alliance with the BJP in June, hitting out at the party for promoting Mr Modi as its face for the 2014 polls.
Over a week ago, Mr Advani himself went into a public sulk over Mr Modi's elevation as the party's presumptive prime minister and skipped a party meet, criticising BJP chief Rajnath Singh for his style of functioning. But the 85-year-old made an equally dramatic about-face three days later, praising Mr Modi's effusively at a public rally.
Rajnath Singh today said, "Mr Advani is not angry with Mr Modi. He may be angry with me."
Both the BJP and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) underplayed the Nitish Kumar-Advani meet.
"Nitish Kumar respects his elders and seniors," said Sabir Ali of the JD-U.
BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "I didn't see who greeted whom or who didn't. I cannot say anything."
Mr Modi reportedly skipped today's meeting on account of an event in Gujarat that had been organised earlier.
The meeting also saw Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Yadav sitting together, alongside TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu.
Mr Naidu, who met Rajnath Singh on Saturday, has not ruled out reuniting with former ally BJP. He had once openly regretted his tie-up with the BJP after the 2002 Gujarat riots under Narendra Modi's watch.