Amid speculation over a rift in the ‘grand alliance’ in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and is learnt to have discussed the current political situation.
Party sources said Kumar drove to Gandhi’s Tughlaq Lane residence and discussed about graft charges against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasdad’s son, Tejashwi Yadav.
Kumar is in the national capital to attend a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in honour of outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee.
His meeting with Rahul Gandhi comes at a time when there are differences over the continuation of Tejashwi in the state cabinet, thus posing a “threat” to the grand alliance between the Janata Dal-United, RJD and Congress in Bihar.
While the RJD supremo has rejected demands of resignation of his son, Kumar is learnt to have reservations about Tejashwi’s continuance as it dents his “anti-corruption” image.
Kumar-led JD-U had also crossed swords with the Opposition over its support to National Democratic Alliance’s presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind. The Opposition had pitched for Meira Kumar as its joint candidate for the presidential polls.