PATNA:In a bid to clear the air on his tweet comparing himself to sandalwood, which remains unaffected despite snakes always surrounding it, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has met RJD president Lalu Prasad at the latter’s 10 Circular Road residence. Nitish’s tweet was interpreted as a barb directed at Lalu.
The RJD chief, however, told reporters that there wasn’t any confusion regarding the tweet and the meeting held on Thursday night wasn’t to sort out differences arising out of it.
Without disclosing much about their meeting, Lalu said, “Earlier, the BJP used to say that there was no chance of us coming together and now since this has happened they are trying to instigate trouble by making baseless allegations.”
“We discussed the strategy for the upcoming Assembly polls,” the RJD Chief and former Bihar CM added.
Though, Nitish posed with Lalu for a photograph, he refrained from making any comment other than saying it was an informal meeting.
The meeting also assumes significance as it came just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to Bihar after coming to power. Sources said the seat-sharing arrangement, among other things, was reportedly discussed at the late night meeting that lasted for more than an hour. Both leaders have also agreed to carry out a joint campaign.
Recently, RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had alleged that Nitish was going for a solo campaign, ignoring senior leaders of the alliance such as Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu. The RJD had also launched its own poster with the pictures of Lalu and his wife Rabri Devi, the slogan of which was interpreted as directed against the Nitish Government.
Congress leader Sadanand Singh, meanwhile, welcomed the meeting between Lalu and Nitish and said this would send a positive signal to the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress workers.