After discussion with Nitish, Shah meets Modi

BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday afternoon reached Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official residence to discuss the formation of the new government and the allocation of ministerial berths.

It was the second meeting of the senior most Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in less than 24 hours and came just a day ahead of the swearing in ceremony of the Modi government.

Before leaving to meet the Prime Minister, Shah had a detailed meeting with Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar.

Kumar drove to Shah's residence along with BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav and is understood to have discussed how many ministerial berths the JD-U will get in the new government.

The JD-U is likely to get two berths in the Modi government -- a Cabinet berth and a Minister of State (MoS) position.

Sources in the JD-U said party MP R.C.P. Singh and Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh were the strong contenders for the Cabinet berth and Santosh Kushwaha for the MoS post.

The JD-U is the third largest party in the National Democratic Alliance, after the BJP and Shiv Sena. The BJP has 303 MPs and the Shiv Sena 18.

Shah on Tuesday evening held a marathon meeting with Modi to discuss critical aspects of the new government.

--IANS

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