Amid reports of alleged rift between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) over seat sharing, BJP chief Amit Shah on Thursday said that the alliance is intact and they will fight the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections together on all 40 seats in Bihar.
"Our alliance with Nitish Kumar will continue in Bihar. Nitish Kumar joined hands with the BJP as he was not able to stay with the corrupt people. Our alliance will win all 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar and form the NDA Government at the Center," news agency ANI quoted Shah as saying.
Earlier in the day, Shah and chief minister Nitish Kumar met for breakfast. This was Shah's first visit to Bihar after JD(U) dissolved the Grand Alliance government with the RJD and the Congress and returned to the NDA.
Kumar will host a dinner for Shah at his residence. They are expected to work out the differences and start the process of seat-sharing discussions.
Earlier, Shah and Kumar held a breakfast meeting in the company of Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, state BJP chief Nityanand Rai, Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Radha Mohan Singh and Ram Kripal Yadav.