The political temperature shot up in mid cold wave in Bihar on Friday as the JDU directed all its legislators to stay in Patna, the BJP convened a meeting of its legislature party, while RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his deputy chief minister son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav rushed to meet chief minister Nitish Kumar at his residence.

The sudden flurry of activity, which once again triggered speculation and uncertainty, followed Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement in an interview to a regional newspaper in which he indicated that the BJP was warming up to Nitish.

Asked about the return of former National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members, including Nitish, Shah had said that the party would consider if any such proposal comes. Several leaders of the BJP’s Bihar unit echoed Shah’s statement.

The BJP also suddenly convened its legislature party meeting at the official residence of the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Vijay Kumar Sinha. Several senior leaders, including Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi, state party unit chief Samrat Choudhary, and organisational general secretaries Nagendra Nath and Bhikubhai Dalsaniya were present.

This coincided with an advisory issued by the JDU to all its MLAs and MLCs, asking them to remain in Patna over the next few days. The Hindustani Awam Morcha of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has also asked its four MLAs to stay in the state capital till January 25.

Lalu and Tejashwi met Nitish at his residence for a little less than an hour. The meeting came amid spiralling talk in Patna’s political circles of all not being well between the ruling allies who have a volatile history of break-ups. Among the irritants is the delay in seat-sharing talks for Bihar’s 40 seats. Both the JDU and the RJD are part of the INDIA formation.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Tejashwi tried to put down questions on whether differences had cropped up between the RJD and the JDU. “We keep meeting over issues related to governance. There is nothing new in it,” Tejashwi said, a little short on conviction. “We are working with chief minister Nitish Kumar to fulfill our promises under his leadership. Recruitment is being done for so many jobs, honorariums are being increased, IT and tourism policies have been brought. We are working in all sectors. We are listening to the problems of the people.”

Asking the media persons to do whatever they felt was right, the deputy chief minister added: “I do not need to justify again and again. You all must understand that the BJP is going to be wiped out from Bihar. It is in pain since Lalu ji and Nitish ji have united, and is spreading rumours. It is a pity that you all (media persons) have also become partners in it.”

Asked about seat sharing in INDIA, the deputy chief minister retorted why such questions were not asked to the NDA constituents, and added that all Bihar partners would contest an “honourable number of seats”. Reacting to questions on Shah’s statement, Tejashwi asserted that there was nothing to worry about in the state.