Nitish Kumar Attends Lalu Yadav's Makar Sankranti Feast Amid Rift Rumours

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday treated himself to a Makar Sankranti feast hosted by RJD president Lalu Prasad, belying recent speculations that the alliance between the two had hit a rough patch.

Mr Prasad's younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, who is also the state's deputy Chief Minister, expressed delight over the visit of the chief minister and made light of the speculations of a rift in the ruling Mahagathbandhan.

"We were pleased to have at our place the honourable chief minister on a day we have been, since long, treating people to 'dahi chuda' (flattened rice with curd), items made of 'til' (sesame) and 'konhre ki sabzi' (pumpkin stew). Other colleagues in the cabinet have been dropping in as well. We welcome them all," said Yadav, who briefly interacted with the posse of journalists.

The young RJD leader blamed the opposition BJP in the state and a section of the press for speculations of a trust deficit which grew strong ever since Mr Kumar took over as the JD(U) national president, replacing Rajiv Ranjan Singh "Lalan" who gave up the post-mid-term.

"Ever since Lalu-ji and Nitish-ji joined hands, the BJP has been scared. Also, we are running a government that has delivered on its promise of job creation on a large scale. As such, there is no need for any explanation on the various theories that have been doing the rounds," asserted Mr Yadav.

Notably, a section of the press had claimed that Lalan ran afoul of Nitish Kumar after he allegedly hatched a conspiracy to dethrone the latter so that Mr Yadav could take over as the CM.

Lalan has reacted by slapping legal notices on the outlets concerned and claimed that he relinquished the top party post to focus more on his Lok Sabha constituency and that it was upon his request that Kumar, the JD(U)'s de facto leader, agreed to take over as the party chief.

Interestingly, Lalan also walked beside Kumar when the two leaders emerged from the CM's residence and walked down to 10, Circular Road, the government bungalow allotted to Prasad's wife Rabri Devi, in her capacity as a former chief minister.

The elderly couple flashed a broad smile at Mr Kumar, who caused a flutter with his optics, but chose not to take any questions from journalists while sauntering back from the RJD leaders' place.

A host of other senior leaders from the JD(U) also turned up at the feast, including ministers Ashok Choudhary, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Sanjay Kumar Jha besides state unit chief Umesh Kushwaha.

Mr Yadav, who held fort engaging with the media contingent, was asked about the perception that the JD(U) was running out of patience by the "delay" in finalisation of a seat-sharing formula because Mahagathbandhan partners were coming up with competing claims.

"How do you know that such a formula has not been arrived at in Bihar? Who knows, it may have been finalised," cryptically said the RJD leader, whose party has been entrusted with negotiating, on behalf of junior partners Congress and Left, with the JD(U).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)