Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to meet deputy amid buzz about differences within NDA

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was scheduled to meet his deputy and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tarkishore Prasad on Monday amid speculation about growing differences within Bihar’s ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government as some of the major parties have called meetings of their legislators.

BJP and Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), or JD (U) have been at loggerheads. On Sunday, JD (U) leader Rajiv Ranjan said a conspiracy was hatched to cut Kumar to size in the 2020 polls as the chief minister stayed away from a NITI Aayog meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired in New Delhi but attended a couple of functions in Patna. Kumar earlier skipped a dinner Modi hosted for outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind and also the swearing-in ceremony of his successor, Droupadi Murmu.

A BJP minister acknowledged there was a crisis and that it will be defused even as the JD (U) has convened a meeting of its lawmakers on Tuesday.