Amid the speculation of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returning to the 'Mahagathbandhan' fold, the Janata Dal (United) leader on Friday attended an Iftar party organized at the residence of former Bihar CM and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Rabri Devi in Patna.
The Janata Dal (United) leader was seen sitting with Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav, the sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Other leaders who attended the RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav's Iftar party include BJP leaders Awadhesh Narayan Singh and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Lok Janshakti Party's Chirag Paswan.
The Chief Minister's presence at the Iftar party comes at a time when enough indications are there of a rift in the NDA government in Bihar after the RJD's victory in the Bochahan bypoll.
Nitish Kumar attended the Iftar party of RJD after a gap of five years. In 2017, Nitish left Bihar's Grand Alliance to become an ally of the BJP.
Trying to diffuse the tensions in the NDA alliance, the BJP leader and Bihar Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said, "Me and Sushil Modi ji had hosted Iftar and Nitish Kumar had also come there. Here, Tejashwi Yadav has hosted one and we were invited, so we have come. There is no need to make any political issue out of this."
"There is a tradition in Bihar that on Iftar all the political parties are invited. So we have also invited Nitish Kumar and he came. We are happy that he came to our party. I think there is no need to make any political issue out of this," said Misa Bhati.
When asked about Nitish Kumar joining 'Mahagathbandhan', Tejashwi Yadav said that this is a tradition that everyone participates in the Iftar party.
"We have given invitations to all the people whether it is from BJP, JDU or LJP and it has been a tradition that everyone participates in the Iftar party," said the RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.
Alliance partners JDU and BJP in Bihar are at loggerheads on a plethora of issues including caste-based census, NDA leadership in Bihar, liquor ban, and law and order situation. 'Mahagathbandhan' or the Grand Alliance in Bihar consists of Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD's) Lalu Yadav and the Congress.
( With inputs from ANI )
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