Patna:
In the Bihar legislature, Nitish Kumar and his party, the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), won a trust vote without missing a beat on Wednesday.
The BJP, which was dumped on Sunday by Mr Kumar after a 17-year alliance, boycotted the vote by staging a walk-out. Before that, it asked Mr Kumar to explain why the president of his party, Sharad Yadav, recently said that reconciliation may be possible if the BJP brings back its 85-year-old stalwart, LK Advani, to the helm.
Both Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav had attributed the break-up to the BJP's decision to place Narendra Modi in charge of its election campaign. They say this proves the party is priming Mr Modi to run for prime minister. The JD(U) has accused Mr Modi of not doing enough during the Gujarat riots of 2002 to prevent the killing of hundreds of Muslims.
RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui said in the Assembly on Wednesday that BJP and JD(U)'s parting game was fixed and public praise for Mr Advani by Mr Kumar's party was a clear evidence of that.
Sources say that the remark rankled. The JD(U) has decided that it will not offer more praise publicly for Mr Advani. JD(U) leaders have reportedly agreed that positive comments about him will confuse party workers about whether a reunion with the BJP may be engineered.
Mr Advani had quit all party posts in protest against Mr Modi's promotion, but rescinded his resignation 24 hours later. Mr Kumar said this week that the BJP, which "betrayed a senior leader like Mr Advani" is not a deserving partner.