A day before counting of votes, Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flew to the national capital to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders to discuss, among other things, the JDU’s potential inclusion in the central government as the NDA’s third consecutive term in power appears certain.

Kumar, whose party JDU is the BJP’s ruling ally in Bihar, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi early Monday and was scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah later in the day to discuss political issues in Bihar. However, Kumar, who has been the Chief Minister of Bihar since 2005, reportedly spoke to Shah over the phone as their meeting could not take place.

With the Bihar CM facing health issues, speculation is rife over his future. The JDU, however, stated that Kumar was in Delhi for an eye check-up and had sought time as a routine from Modi and Shah.

Before walking out of the NDA, the JDU had joined the Modi government in 2021 with its leader RCP Singh becoming a Cabinet minister. At that time, the JDU wanted two cabinet berths at the Centre but had to be satisfied with only one slot.

Later, the JDU left the NDA but did a U-turn to become a BJP ally again early this year. The regional party also fought the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as part of the NDA.

This time, there was widespread speculation that one of the key topics of Kumar’s visit was the JDU joining the Modi government.

The demands

Interestingly, the JDU is demanding early polls in Bihar which, is in line with the one nation, one election plank of the BJP. The JDU wants assembly elections to be held in Bihar along with other States like Maharashtra and Haryana which are scheduled to seek public mandate later this year. It’s also demanding special status and a special package for the State as a delegation of the Finance Commission is likely to visit Patna on June 10.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders, such as party president JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, held a meeting on Monday to discuss the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls and its preparation for the counting of votes scheduled on Tuesday.

Review meeting

“A meeting was held to discuss and review the elections conducted in seven phases and also to discuss the counting of votes which is to take place tomorrow. The meeting was presided over by party national president J P Nadda,” BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde told reporters. According to Tawde, voting patterns during all the seven phases of polls were “also reviewed.”

The “Extension discussions” on all seven phases of elections took place in the meeting, attended by BJP national general secretaries and secretaries. Deployment of the party’s polling agents across the country for counting of votes too came up in talks.

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