After Congress call, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar meets Tejashwi Yadav amid talks of Cabinet expansion, 2024 Lok Sabha election

After a call from the Congress top brass, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav amid talks of Cabinet expansion

After a call from the Congress top brass, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on December 21 met Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav amid talks of Cabinet expansion and the upcoming Lok Sabha election in 2024.

This came amid buzz that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tried to reach out to Mr. Kumar on Thursday evening but somehow could not talk to each other even as party president Mallikarjun Kharge later spoke to the Chief Minister.

Later in the day, Mr. Kumar met his Deputy in the Cabinet at 1, Anne Marg, which is the official residence of the Chief Minister. Both the leaders met for half-an-hour but chose not to reveal what transpired between them to media.

However, RJD sources told The Hindu that the two leaders discussed about cabinet expansion of the State government and on strategies for the upcoming 2024 parliamentary election.

The State government has been delaying induction of two more Congress legislators into the Cabinet. The party has been demanding this for a long time. In the 243-member State Assembly, the Bihar Cabinet can have a maximum of 36 berths but five of them are vacant for few months.

Earlier, at the fourth Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) meeting in New Delhi on December 19, both Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad had come out of it reportedly in a huff after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed the name of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the Prime Ministerial face of the alliance with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is also convener of Aam Admi Party (AAP), endorsing the proposal. Though, Mr. Kharge had intervened to assert that the decision of Prime Ministerial candidate would be taken after the election.

Meanwhile, the buzz in political circles of Bihar is that it was Mr. Prasad who wanted the West Bengal Chief Minister to propose the name of Mr. Kharge as INDIA bloc’s Prime Ministerial face to “cut Mr. Kumar’s political design to size”. Few days ago, both Mr. Prasad and his son Mr. Yadav had gone to Kolkata and met Ms. Banerjee but it was said to be a “courtesy meeting”.