Bihar CM Nitish Kumar holds closedoor meeting with Amit Shah in Patna

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Home Minister Amit Shah met in an in-camera meeting at Patna's Hotel Maurya, sparking rampant political speculation prior to the state Assembly polls due in Bihar.

Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, and Sanjay Jha were present.

The sources indicate that seat-sharing deals and the overall election strategy of the NDA in Bihar were the issues discussed primarily.

This is the first important formal exchange of words between Nitish Kumar and Amit Shah since Nitish's return to the NDA alliance in 2024.

Political analysts feel that the results of the meeting could play a decisive role in shaping the pre-election scenario of the state.

There have been reports of tensions within the NDA for several weeks over seat sharing. While both the BJP and JD(U) want to stake their claim, other allies are also asserting their pound of flesh.

The LJP (Ram Vilas) under Chirag Paswan has demanded "respectable" representation and according to reports, Jamui MP Arun Bharti is eyeing a claim of 43 to 137 seats.

At the same time, the Hindustani Awam Morcha led by Jitan Ram Manjhi has sought 20 seats.

Amit Shah is on a two-day Bihar tour, where he will hold a series of top-level organisational meetings to further boost the BJP in the run-up to the 2025 Assembly elections.

Shah will visit Dehri in Rohtas district on Thursday to meet grassroots party workers.

The region is crucial to the BJP as during the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, only two out of the 20 seats in the Shahabad belt, including Rohtas, Kaimur, Bhojpur, and Buxar districts, were won by the party.

Shah will then travel to Begusarai to chair yet another meeting of local MPs, MLAs, MLCs, and district presidents. The meeting will focus on laying down the election strategy and addressing organisational issues.

Party sources claim that Shah's visit is part of a bigger strategy to refurbish lagging areas and galvanise the BJP cadre in regions where the party was behind in 2020.