An empty chair by the side of Nitish Kumar at a Raj Bhavan gathering on Friday appeared to herald the end of Bihar’s Grand Alliance and the chief minister’s return to the NDA, a development that can hand the BJP a huge boost ahead of the general election.

A National Democratic Alliance government in Bihar with Nitish at the helm may be sworn in as early as Sunday, with a deputy chief minister from the BJP, sources suggested.

This could help the combine replicate the success it had achieved in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by winning 39 of Bihar’s 40 seats.

Senior BJP leaders were meeting in Delhi while Nitish was confabulating with his trusted aides in Patna on Friday evening, apparently to fine-tune the formation of the new state government.

Earlier in the day, JDU and BJP legislators attended a high tea hosted by governor Rajendra Arlekar but RJD leaders, including deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, skipped it.

As the chair designated for Tejashwi lay vacant by Nitish’s side, the chief minister’s trusted aide and building construction minister Ashok Choudhary walked up to it. He removed the slip of paper mentioning the deputy chief minister’s name, tore it and sat in the chair, appearing to symbolically declare the death of the Mahagathbandhan.

All the while, Nitish remained engrossed in conversation with BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha, currently the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

Accosted by reporters while leaving Raj Bhavan, Nitish avoided questions on the status of the ruling alliance and told them to “ask those (such as Tejashwi) who did not come”.

BJP leaders believe that while the party’s position has strengthened in Bihar following the Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya, that might not be enough by itself to break the caste and community equations and repeat the 2019 success. This made it imperative for the party to shake hands with Nitish, sources said.

The BJP also believes that Nitish has improved his image in Bihar by successfully completing the caste-based survey and following it up with various affirmative actions.

The recruitment of around 2.25 lakh teachers, and of several thousand people to other government jobs, too, have generated goodwill for the Janata Dal United chief minister.

“Nitish’s image has improved in the state. The side he supports will win. It will be better if he is with us,” a senior BJP leader said.

Sources in the BJP said the new NDA government could be ushered in with a deal providing Bihar with “special category status” or a hefty package running into lakhs of crores. This, they said, could be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his rally at Bettiah, West Champaran, on February 4.

Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday signalled the new stance adopted on Nitish by the party, which had earlier asserted multiple times that its doors were closed to the JDU leader.

“No doors are permanently closed in politics. They are opened or shut in keeping with the need. They will open if necessary,” Sushil said.

After returning from Raj Bhavan, Nitish called a high-level meeting of JDU leaders at his 1 Aney Marg residence.

Party vice-president and Rajya Sabha member Bashistha Narain Singh, ministers Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Ashok Choudhary, and Lok Sabha member Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh were among those who attended it. A JDU legislature party meeting has been convened on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Nitish had ignored Tejashwi at the Republic Day function in Patna. The sofa next to him was vacant, with the deputy chief minister sitting with other ministers throughout the event.