Bihar CM Nitish Kumar appears to be disenchanted with the alliance, say sources
It was the first anniversary of the NDA's rule in Bihar, but Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who prides himself on presenting his report card, once again decided to give the event a miss.
No reason has been cited, but Nitish Kumar did attend a function to start the construction work of a record number of 11 lakh homes under the Prime Minister Rural Housing Scheme, where his deputy Sushil Modi was also present.
It was not for the first time that Nitish Kumar had abandoned presenting his report card as he did on the first year of the Grand Alliance government in 2016, when he cited a train accident as the reason for the miss. But it was not that he had not prepared the report card -- it was later printed and distributed to the media.
But this year, there was no such preparation. People familiar with the matter in the BJP say it shows Nitish Kumar is clearly disenchanted with the party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not only let him down on granting central university status to Patna University last year, but also decided against the Rs 7,600 crore demand for flood relief.
Bihar got only Rs 1,700 crore from which Rs 500 crore was deducted and announced as immediate relief funds.
Sources say Nitish Kumar may be upset over BJP leaders and volunteers being allegedly linked to the Ram Ravmi clashes in April last year. The BJP had expressed its unhappiness over the crackdown on scores of leaders over the violence that started after religious posters were found torn.
Then union minister Giriraj Singh landed in a controversy after a show of support for a set of riots-accused leaders, whom he visited at a jail in Bihar's Nawada.
Although unlike the RJD regime, Nitish Kumar completely enjoyed an upper hand in day-to-day running, but due to Amit Shah it appears the Bihar chief minister did not get a chance to play any role in the NDA. Mr Kumar was not even invited to attend a single NDA meet in four years.