Not known for concealing his emotions or following a forgive-and-forget tenet, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's treatment of his one-time confidante and No. 2 in the party, Union Minister RCP Singh, is increasingly on-brand.
Mr Kumar, who once made leaders like George Fernandes, Digvijay Singh and Sharad Yadav pay a price for falling out of line, is now effectively evicting RCP Singh from his spacious bungalow in Patna's VIP zone.
Mr Singh had earlier been dropped as a candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections by the Janata Dal-United boss over his proximity to senior partner BJP.
Under a new plan for the allotment of government bungalows in Patna, the 7 Strand Road residence - home to RCP Singh for the last 12 years - will now go to the Chief Secretary of the state.
Although the bungalow had been officially with JDU leader Sanjay Gandhi, Mr Singh had been its actual resident.
But now Mr Gandhi has been allotted another bungalow as the party's chief whip with cabinet rank.
A Nitish Kumar loyalist, Mr Gandhi is known to follow his lead on such matters and is firmly expected not to extend the courtesy to Mr Singh this time.
The Chief Secretary will be moving into the bungalow where RCP Singh lives since his 7 Circular Road place has been taken over by Nitish Kumar because his 1 Anne Marg residence is being renovated.
Even after the renovation is complete, Nitish Kumar is unlikely to vacate the 7 Circular Road place since he has confided to officers around him that he gets better sleep here compared to the 1 Anne Marg, sources said.
This sudden decision to reallocate bungalows comes with the express consent of Nitish Kumar who, sources say, wants to dislodge RCP Singh from not only the government bungalow but also from the VIP neighbourhood since he is upset over what he sees as "anti-party activities" being conducted from there.
Party leaders say the move harks back to Nitish Kumar's track record of going to extreme lengths to settle scores with those who were once close to him but later went on to fall out with him on some issues.
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