Amit Shah meets Nitish Kumar amid reports of tussle
Patna, July 12 (IBNS): BJP chief Amit Shah met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on Thursday and was believed to have initiated a discussion over seat sharing for the 2019 Parliamentary elections.
"Met Bihar Chief Minister and our comrade in the NDA, Nitish Kumar, in Patna," Amit Shah tweeted.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi also attended the morning meeting held at the state guest house.
Coming out of the meeting, Nitish Kumar refused to divulge anything to media
According to reports, Shah is scheduled to meet the CM for dinner at his official residence later in the day.
The meetings come amid speculation of friction between the BJP and the JD(U) over seat sharing for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with the JD(U) asserting its "elder brother" status.
The tension in the alliance was created after Nitish's recent comments against the communalism in the country.
Nitish had once said his party will compromise neither with corruption, the reason for its break-up with Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), nor with communalism, to which the BJP is often accused.
Nitish Kumar had in 2013 snapped 17-year-old ties with the BJP over the party's decision to declare Narendra Modi (then CM of Gujarat) as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections.
The JD(U) had contested 2014 polls alone and won just 2 seats. in 2009, Kumar's party had contested elections in an alliance with the BJP. While the JD(U) had contested 25 seats and won 20, the BJP had won 11 of 15 seats it contested.
In 2015 Assembly elections, the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress formed a grand alliance to script a massive victory and form a coalition Government in Bihar.
But after two years, Nitish pulled out of the grand alliance to form his own Government with outside support from the BJP.
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