Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hugs RJD chief Lalu Yadav at Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony
On the sidelines on Nitish Kumar's oath ceremony at Patna's sprawling Gandhi Maidan, Lalu Yadav's warm hug for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal caught attention.
They also raised clasped hands, broad smiles on their faces. As pictures of the greeting were shared on social media, people also dug out an Arvind Kejriwal tweet from about two years ago when he had said:
The reference was to Mr Yadav's conviction in a corruption case. Mr Kejriwal had stormed the political scene as a crusader against corruption with a stated mission to change the system. The tweet was retweeted almost 5000 times.
Arvind Kejriwal was at today's oath ceremony in Patna at the invitation of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. This year, the two chief ministers seemed to bond, meeting several times, drawn together by a shared rivalry with the BJP.
Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party decimated the BJP in the Delhi elections earlier this year, made several vote appeals for Nitish Kumar for the Bihar elections, and wished him a big win over the BJP in Bihar like AAP's in Delhi.
But he did not accept Nitish Kumar's invitation to campaign for him in the state. It was seen as the former anti-corruption activist's discomfort at being seen in the same space as Lalu Yadav, who joined hands with Nitish Kumar to stall the BJP in the state.
There was no discomfort apparent though on stage at the Gandhi Maidan today when the two leaders embraced.
On Twitter, there was anger and there was mirth.