Nitish meets Rahul before Janata Parivar meet

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi before his scheduled meeting with the leaders of the Janata Parivar here.

The Janata Parivar was to meet to arrive at an understanding over the proposed alliance and its leadership for the Bihar polls.

"We have been supporting Nitish Kumar. We supported him when he parted his ways with the BJP. We supported him when he proposed the name of Jitan Ram Manjhi (for chief ministership). We supported him when he again took over as chief minister," Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed told IANS.

"So we have been a supporting party and as far as a meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Nitish Kumar is concerned, I would say there is nothing new in it as political leaders keep meeting each other," he said.

There has not been much progress since six political parties -- formerly constituents of the erstwhile Janata Dal, including Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party -- announced a merger to revive the united Janata Dal.

Serious differences between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) have cropped up on the question of who will be the chief ministerial candidate in Bihar.