Nitish Kumar meets union minister Lalan Singh hours after his meeting with Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary

The meetings took place on the day CM Choudhary announced that the Kachhi Dargah–Raghopur–Bidupur six-lane bridge would be named after Nitish Kumar.

Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar called on Union panchayati raj minister and senior party leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh on Friday evening, hours after the latter met with chief minister Samrat Choudhary.

Although senior leaders of both leading parties of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — JD(U) and BJP — dismissed the meeting as routine, it fanned speculation about growing strains within the coalition in general and the JD(U) in particular.

The meetings took place on the day CM Choudhary announced that the Kachhi Dargah–Raghopur–Bidupur six-lane bridge would be named after Nitish Kumar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to dedicate the bridge, now to be known as Nitish Setu, at a function in Bihar on November 21.

Nitish Kumar, also the former CM, visited Lalan Singh's residence along with deputy CM and water resources minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, and is said to have discussed the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with him.

"Nothing is unusual about Nitish Kumar's visit to Lalan Singh's residence. He often used to go to residences of senior leaders," said the deputy CM, saying that people were trying to read more into it.

Soon after he arrived from Delhi, Lalan Singh drove to Lok Sevak Awas in the afternoon and met CM Choudhary. Officials in the CM residence said that their discussion mainly covered the current political situation in the state, coordination within the NDA, and the progress of ongoing development projects. Preparations for the Prime Minister's visit also figured in the talks.

Coming amid the Chhath festivities, the back-to-back meetings and the announcement on the bridge's naming have kept political circles in Patna active. Party sources indicated that the conversations aimed to ensure smooth coordination ahead of the Prime Minister's visit and to reinforce the message of alliance unity.

The meetings have assumed added significance in political circles in the backdrop of recent reports of unease between the BJP and JD(U). After the legislative council elections, allegations had surfaced that a section of BJP leaders had worked against some JD(U) nominees. Former Union minister and one-time Bihar in-charge of the BJP, Dharmendra Pradhan, had been rushed to Patna days earlier to hold parleys and settle outstanding issues between the two lead partners of the NDA.

Confrontations between leaders of other alliance partners — LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan and Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular's Jitan Ram Manjhi — had further complicated the task for NDA crisis managers. These developments coincide with mounting opposition pressure on the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, unemployment and price rise.

Senior JD(U) leader and state rural development minister Shravan Kumar, who had earlier spoken about differences that cropped up during NDA meetings, described Friday's interactions as routine.

"It would be a routine kind of meeting of the Union minister Lalan Singh with Nitish Kumar and CM Choudhary, as all outstanding issues in the alliance have been settled now," he said.

Subhash Pathak is special correspondent of Hindustan Times with over 15 years of experience in journalism, covering issues related to governance, legislature, police, Maoism, urban and road infrastructure of Bihar and Jharkhand.Read More