Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar met BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday. (File)
Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar called on BJP president Amit Shah at his residence today, reportedly to iron out seat-sharing issues between the two allies in Bihar ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav was also present.
Mr Shah rushed to meet Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley -- who is known to enjoy a good rapport with the Bihar chief minister -- soon after the interaction was done. Incidentally, only Mr Yadav stepped out to see Mr Kumar off.
Mr Kumar, also the chief minister of the state, is in the national capital for medical reasons. He had visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for a routine medical check-up on Tuesday. Sources said the 67-year-old politician has been suffering from viral fever and cough.
"When our leader is in New Delhi, he will naturally meet those of our alliance partner. Moreover, I had said earlier that talks on seat-sharing are in the final stages," news agency PTI quoted JD(U) national general secretary RCP Singh as saying earlier today.
Although the Bihar chief minister had declared three days ago that the BJP and JD(U) have arrived at a "honourable agreement" on seat-sharing for the upcoming parliamentary polls, his own partymen conceded that there many glitches yet to be ironed out. The Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) -- two other constituents of the ruling alliance in Bihar -- said they were not informed about the number of seats allotted to them.
The BJP's first draft of the plan brought out last month had reserved 20 of the 40 seats in Bihar for itself while giving the JD(U) 12, the LJP six and the RLSP two. The JD(U) had, at the time, termed the plan as "neither fair nor honourable".