New Delhi:
In Delhi's searing heat, the chill factor was high this morning at a meeting of chief ministers where Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi walked past each other in silence.
The Congress was quick to gloat. "The way Nitish has maintained the distance with Narendra Modi, it is clear that NDA won't be there for too long," said party leader Harish Rawat, referring to the national coalition that's anchored by Mr Modi's party, the BJP, and of which Mr Kumar's Janata Dal (United) is a senior and important member.
Today's meeting of chief ministers from all states has been called by the Prime Minister to discuss internal security.
Mr Kumar runs his government in Bihar in partnership with Mr Modi's party, the BJP. After his third successive re-election as chief minister of Gujarat in December, Mr Modi's stick within his party has climbed rapidly, allowing his supporters to demand that he be made the BJP's presumptive prime minister. If that happens, Mr Kumar has warned, he will end his partnership with the BJP.
Mr Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United) has charged Mr Modi with "lacking secular credentials" because of the 2002 communal riots in his state in which over a thousand people were killed, most of the Muslims.
15 per cent of Bihar's population is Muslim, and Mr Kumar needs its support to remain in power.
In the past, he blocked Mr Modi from campaigning for the BJP in Bihar for both national and state elections.