JDU

Defending Kumar's absence, Janata Dal-United parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha asserted that the chief minister is not bound to attend all the events. Responding to the proposed visit of BJP leaders Amit Shah and J.P. Nadda to Patna for a high-level meeting of the party ahead of Lok Sabha election 2024, Kushwaha stated: "In Bihar, Nitish Kumar is the biggest leader. It hardly matters for us if any top leader of another party is coming to Bihar."

Minority Affairs Minister Jama Khan, of the JD-U, said: "The investigation is currently underway. There is no clarity over whether the organisation (PFI) is involved in anti- national activities or not. Hence, you can't declare an organisation illegal. How could a ban be imposed on an organisation only on the basis of the assumption of some people.

A BJP insider said that the political relation between BJP and JD-U turned sour during Agnipath agitation when BJP state chief Sanjay Jaiswal and other leaders like Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi blamed the Nitish Kumar government of not firmly tackling the largescale violence. Meanwhile, JD-U leaders like its national President Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Upendra Kushwaha have asked the Centre to rethink on that scheme.

After returning from London on Thursday evening, when Tejashwi was asked about forming a government with Nitish Kumar, he said: "All these things are imaginary. I don't see anything to reunite again to form a political alliance for the formation of the government in Bihar." He further said: "Caste-based census was my initiative. I had written a letter to the chief minister to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year."

A highly placed source in the JD-U said that Nitish Kumar is firm on his decision to not to send RCP Singh in the Rajya Sabha for the third time and the latter is trying to regain the confidence of the Chief Minister again. On Friday evening, Nitish Kumar attended the wedding function of his old loyalist's son in Bihar's Arrah town. For RCP Singh, it was evident that he was the closest person to Nitish Kumar at a time. During the function, the gap between these two leaders was visible in the photographs.

According to a video going viral on social media, a youth was seen walking in between the security personnel as the Chief Minister was paying tribute at a statue at Bakhtiyarpur market, and punching him once. Security personnel overpowered the accused and took him into custody. Security personnel overpowered the accused and took him into custody.

BJP leaders, including its Bihar chief Sanjay Jaiswal, were hinting that Sahani - with whom the party was at odds since his decision to contest the recent UP Assembly elections and attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath - was going to be axed after it lured away all the three VIP MLAs and inducted them into the party.

JD-U leader and Building Construction Minister Ashok Chaudhary said: "During 2020 Assembly election, the seat distribution was done between the JD-U and the BJP. The JD-U had adjusted Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha and BJP accommodated Mukesh Sahani-led VIP. Mukesh Sahani became cabinet minister under BJP quota. Hence, the BJP can take the initiative to remove him from the post of cabinet minister."

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Parliamentary Affairs Minister of Bihar, appeared soon after the spat between Kumar and speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, saying that the Chief Minister has given explanation based on laws in the Constitution. "Nitish Kumar has given explanations based on laws in the Constitution. He rightly pointed out that the investigation report will be submitted in the court," Chaudhary said.