A day after RJD chief Lalu Prasad along with his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav called on CM and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar at his residence in Patna, the relations between the two camps seem to have come under fresh strain, even as Nitish moved to revamp the JD(U).

On Saturday evening, Nitish announced a 21-member team of the new JD(U) national office-bearers, dropping six of the party’s seven Lok Sabha MPs from it, some of whom are said to be close to former party national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh or Lalan Singh.

Lalan lost his post to Nitish last month amid reports that the CM had been upset with the former over his alleged proximity to Lalu Prasad.

In his new team, Nitish brought in his close aide and Rajya Sabha MP Bashistha Narayan Singh as a vice-president replacing former MP Mangani Lal Mandal, who is now among 11 party general secretaries.

Former MP K C Tyagi, who was the JD(U) advisor and its national spokesperson, has been named as the party’s political advisor and national spokesperson. Nitish also appointed six new secretaries.

Sources in the RJD and JD (U) also said that Nitish has been “pressuring” Lalu to go for simultaneous Assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha elections slated for April-May. Nitish is said to have come under increasing pressure from within the JD(U) to go for synchronised elections so that the party could improve on its 2020 tally.

In the 243-member House, the RJD is the single largest party with 79 MLAs as against the BJP’s 78. The JD(U) has just 45 MLAs. The next Assembly polls in Bihar are due in October-November 2025.

While the RJD and JD(U) leaders have been publicly dismissive of rising tensions between the two major Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) partners, their game of one-upmanship continues to play out in the state.

The Bihar government Saturday put out a full-page advertisement in local newspapers about the state health department’s key initiatives, which did not make any reference to Deputy CM Tejashwi, who holds the health portfolio among other ministries.

On their part, RJD workers have also put up a large poster near the party’s headquarters in Patna, which claims that Tejashwi has fulfilled all of their promises including giving jobs to six lakh people, ensuring a caste survey, and rolling out Rs 2 lakh dole to 94 lakh poor families in the state.

There did not seem to be any immediate reason for the government to issue a health department ad, which showcased only Nitish’s “accomplishments”.

The ad says that while Bihar previously had only six medical colleges (until the Lalu-led RJD’s tenure in 2005), the state has now 15 medical colleges and hospitals and that the government has sanctioned another 15 medical colleges and hospitals for the future.

“Everyone knows health is the key department under RJD. Even if there is no photograph of health minister with the ad, there should have been a mention of the health minister. Even during recent distribution of appointment letters to 94,000 teachers, there was no mention of Deputy CM. This is when RJD had made 10 lakh jobs promise its key agenda and Nitish government only borrowed our idea”, said an RJD leader, admitting unease in the alliance.

On the other hand, the RJD poster alleges “Modi guarantees fail”, while duly carrying photograph of Nitish along with Tejashwi. It says, “Tejashwi ne jo kaha wo kiya (Tejashwi did what he promised)”. It also claims how Tejashwi had given appointment letters to six lakh teachers, state employee status to another four lakh teachers and also raised job quota.

An RJD leader said: “Whatever is happening from Nitish Kumar’s end could be part of pressure tactics to get a share in the seats for the coming Rajya Sabha and MLC polls besides a bit of bargaining for Lok Sabha seats. We do not see BJP warming up to Nitish who has been playing his old twin-track politics”. He said Nitish had been been urging the RJD leadership for simultaneous polls because several JD(U) MPs had been “insisting on contesting Lok Sabha polls with BJP”.

The RJD leader also said, “Nitish looks desperate for simultaneous polls because he is afraid of exodus in his party. But why should we force Assembly polls on the state one-and-a-half years before schedule?”