Sharad Yadav plays safe as Bihar BJP skips meeting with Nitish Kumar

Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav on Saturday avoided commenting on BJP leaders move not to meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and said that his political outfit has not yet taken a final call on endings its alliance with the saffron outfit.

Yadav, however, hinted that the alliance is not intact.

"The situation is very difficult. There are internal problems," he said.

BJP leaders in Bihar earlier in the day refused to meet Nitish Kumar. The Bihar Chief Minister had yesterday called up his deputy Sushil Modi and other senior BJP leaders from the state for a meeting.

"He had called me and Sushil ji. But he has raised the issue of who would be the Prime Ministerial candidate and Narendra Modi, we have jurisdiction to talk about. The BJP national leadership is in touch with him, he should discuss this issue with the national leadership and not with us," BJP leader Nand Kishore, who is also the NDA convenor in Bihar, told ANI in Patna.

Nitish Kumar, who returned from a tour to Patna yesterday, made it clear that there is a strain in the ties between the Janata Dal (United) and the BJP, and said that the current situation of the coalition is very difficult.

"And, we have to now decide on what to do in this difficult situation. Talks are going on from almost all quarters. On one hand, they are saying that the alliance should continue for its very old. On the other hand, the situation is such... there are difficulties," said Kumar.

"Dua dete hai jeene ki, dawa karte hai marne ki (You wish me a long life, but offer medicines that will poison me)," he added

JD (U) has 118 MLAs in 243-member Bihar assembly and needs the support of only four more MLAs to reach the magic figure

There are 91 MLAS from BJP, 21 from RJD and one each from LJP and CPI in the state assembly.