Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, amid speculation of a rift between the parties. During the meeting, the two leaders are believed to have discussed the corruption charges made against Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, NDTV reported.
Kumar had supported the Bharatiya Janata Party’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, besides which, the corruption charges against Yadav have also affected the grand alliance in Bihar. Yadav, and his father and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, have denied all corruption charges made against them.
Kumar will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Saturday night, at a dinner hosted for outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee, the report added.
A troubled alliance?
The Central Bureau of Investigation had filed corruption charges against Tejashwi Yadav and others on July 7. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) had initially asked Yadav to resign, but he had not. The deputy chief minister had even skipped an event attended by Kumar, though the RJD and JD(U) have claimed that there is no trouble in the state’s grand alliance. The two parties, along with the Congress, make up the government in the state.
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