Rift over,Jaitley to meet Nitish

Putting the recent tiff behind,top BJP leaders are likely to meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar this week....

Putting the recent tiff behind,top BJP leaders are likely to meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar this week. Sources said Arun Jaitley who is scheduled to travel to the poll-bound state to take stock of the preparations on Saturday would meet Kumar as also other JD(U) top functionaries.

Both the BJP and the JD(U) had decided not to let the Modi episode tell on the alliance and affect their preparation for elections which is just months away. While the BJP does not expect any trouble on the seat-sharing front,it is yet not known whether the Gujarat Chief Minister would campaign in the state or not.

BJP sources said Jaitley,along with Anant Kumar and Dharmendra Pradhan,was travelling to Patna essentially to review the poll preparations. Jaitley,who shares a good personal rapport with Kumar,had played a key role in defusing the tension between the two parties last month even though he was away on a family vacation in Europe.

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Sources said he was in touch with Kumar while other leaders like party chief Nitin Gadkari and Venkaiah Naidu kept channels of communication open with JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav. The alliance is intact and the focus now is on elections. The leaders would discuss the poll strategy, a top BJP leader from Bihar said although Nitishs invitation to Modi to campaign in Bihar ruffled some feathers.

Signalling an end to the tension,Gadkari had invited Nitish for a dinner with him and Jaitley in Delhi. Sources said Nitish had conveyed to the BJP that the Modi controversy had overshadowed his campaign to highlight his governments achievements.