Amid reports of Nitish Kumar being unhappy over the seat sharing arrangements in the National Democratic Alliance, the Bihar chief minister has called a meeting of top Janata Dal-United leaders at his residence on Tuesday afternoon.
According to JD-U sources, Nitish Kumar made it clear to the Bharatiya Janata Party that the JD-U will not sacrifice its traditional seats and will contest at least one seat more than the BJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly spoke with Nitish Kumar on Tuesday morning.
JD-U Working President Sanjay Jha, who is considered close to top BJP leaders, downplayed reports of Nitish Kumar's unhappiness.
But Jha failed to explain why the NDA postponed the announcement of its candidates on Monday evening and why Nitish Kumar has called an emergency meeting of JD-U leaders on Tuesday.
Sources in the JD-U said Nitish Kumar is not comfortable after it was decided that the BJP and JD-U will contest 101 seats each. Election after election since 2005, the JD-U has contested more seats than the BJP.
In the last 48 hours several senior JD-U leaders have quit the party after their traditional seats were reportedly given to other allies under seat sharing arrangements finalised by the NDA.
Ajay Mandal, the JD-U MP from Bhagalpur, on Tuesday threatened to resign from the Lok Sabha, alleging that he was ignored in the selection of candidates and claimed that he was not allowed to meet Nitish Kumar.
JD-U MLA Gopal Mandal is staging a dharna outside Nitish Kumar's official residence, alleging that some leaders want to deny him a ticket to contest polls.
-- MI Khan in Patna