Nitish Kumar

Such a development happened after the Congress party decided to give unconditional support to Nitish Kumar in case he leaves NDA and forms new government with the alliance partners of Mahagathbandhan. Congress state in-charge Bhakta Charan Das reached Patna on Monday and headed the meeting held at the official residence of CLP leader Ajit Sharma.

Sources have said that the Janata Dal (United) top leadership has more than six audio recordings where its MLAs and a minister were given lucrative offers to rebel against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. However, it is not clear which party and leaders gave the offers to the JD(U) MLAs.

The claim by a party leader, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, came a day after JD-U national President Lalan Singh said that Nitish Kumar and the JD-U was targeted with the "Chirag model" during the 2020 Assembly election and as a result, the party only secured 43 seats. The reference was to how the Lok Janshakti Party of Chirag Paswan fought elections outside the NDA, but only in the seats that the JD-U was contesting.

"At present, no one knows what's in store for Bihar. Even if Nitish Kumar manages to secure his seat after negotiating with the Mahagathbandhan leaders, still, he would not be able to complete his tenure till 2025. The leaders of Mahagathbandhan are over ambitious which would lead to mid term Assembly elections," Paswan asserted.

Though the full details of the phone call, which happened on Sunday night, are not officially known, sources said that the two leaders discussed the formation of a new government in Bihar. The effect of the telephonic conversation was visible in Patna as Congress' state president Madan Mohan Jha and party legislature leader Ajit Sharma called a meeting of its legislators in Sadakat Ashram to discuss the future course of action.

"Yes, it is true that some of the people tried to make the hole in the bottom of ship to make it sink but we spotted it within time and repaired it," Lalan Singh said while accusing R.C.P. Singh of damaging the party but "our leader Nitish Kumar spotted his activities and did appropriate treatment". Earlier on Saturday, R.C.P. Singh said that the JD-U is a sinking ship as he also gave his resignation from the primary membership.

R.C.P. Singh claimed that his birth place is in Nalanda district while the birthplace of Nitish Kumar is Bakhtiyarpur in Patna district. "The native village of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is in Nalanda but his birth place is Bakhtiyarpur in Patna district while my birth place is in my native place in Nalanda district. Hence, there is a difference between me and CM Nitish Kumar," he said in Jehanabad, where he had come for a personal event.

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."

"When the leaders of opposition parties unanimously announced my name as a joint candidate for the presidential post, I called every leader to get their support and help. Accordingly, I repeatedly contacted Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and also sent text messages to him and said that I want to talk to him but he refused. I believe his political status is bigger than people like me. Hence, he did not talk to me," Sinha said.

Reacting to rumours of religious conversion taking place in Saran district, Kumar said that the administration is on high alert to check any kind of conversion in the state. "There is no truth in the reports of religious conversion in Bihar. The administrations of all the districts are on high alert, keeping a close tab on any unusual development," Kumar said.