Will BJP leaders attend Nitish's swearing-in?

This week's biggest event is the swearing-in of the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance government in Bihar on Friday. It is tipped to be a grand event, to be held at Patna's Gandhi Maidan, capping the festivities of Diwali and Chhath. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi will attend the event.

The thing to watch is whether leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party will do so. The list of ministers will also be interesting, as Kumar will be forced to do a balancing act: the Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is the biggest partner in the alliance with 80 of the 178 seats that the grouping has won in the 243-member House. Janata Dal (United) has 71 MLAs and the Congress has 27. Whom will he induct and whom will he leave out? Will someone from Lalu Prasad's family be part of the ministry? Will a deputy chief minister be appointed? Who will hold the crucial finance portfolio?