Patna:
Nitish Kumar appears to have called it.
The Chief Minister of Bihar suggested today that his alliance with the BJP is over. "
Dua dete hai jeene ki, dawa karte hai marne ki (You wish me a long life, but offer medicines that will poison me)," he said, looking relaxed.
The BJP's Shahnawaz Hussain's response was also dispatched as a couplet. "
Hum dua bhi dete hain, dawa bhi dete hain. Hum jise dost banate hain, unhe hum kabhi daga nahi dete hain! (We offer medicines and prayers, but those who we befriend, we do not betray)."
But now that the gong has sounded, the recriminations from both sides are getting coarse.
The JDU has 118 legislators in the Bihar Asembly. To remain in power, it needs another four.
The president of the BJP in Bihar, Mangal Pandey, accused Mr Kumar's party, the Janata Dal United or JDU, of "trying to murder democracy" and poach BJP legislators ahead of the trust vote Mr Kumar will have to take after the alliance formally ends - an announcement is expected at a JDU conclave over the weekend in Patna.
Shivanand Tiwari brought the rough talk for the JDU. "It is the BJP that has ended this alliance," the JDU leader said. "They cause the problem and then they blame us?"
The JDU says the BJP has undone the partnership by placing Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi in charge of its campaign for the national election.
(Read)"Nitish Kumar made his stand on Modi clear when he cancelled a dinner in 2010," Mr Tiwari said. The dinner had been organised on the side-lines of a meeting of the BJP national executive in Patna. The Bihar Chief Minister called it off to protest against BJP ads that used an earlier photo of him sharing the stage with Mr Modi.
The JDU alleges that Mr Modi did not act soon or strongly enough to protect hundreds of Muslims who died in communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.