Patna:
It was courtesy and a technical snag that took the Bihar Chief Minister to Sadaquat Ashram, that houses the Congress' main Bihar office, not a search for new political friends. Mr Kumar was dropping off his guest, Finance minister P Chidambaram.
The chief minister had accompanied the Finance Minister to Rajgir, about 125 km from state capital Patna, where Mr Chidambaram had to attend a State Level Bankers Committee meeting.
While on their way back, the government chopper that they were travelling in developed a technical snag. The ministers, instead of waiting for repairs, decided to cover the distance by road. So, the Finance Minister, the chief minister, and Janata Dal (United) MP NK Singh ended up travelling in the same car back to the state capital.
Running late for his flight to Delhi, Mr Chidambaram wanted to make a quick stop at the Congress headquarters. Mr Kumar dropped him and immediately left for the airport where Mr Chidambaram was to address a press conference. The Finance Minister, after being felicitated by party workers, rushed to the airport too.
In Patna, Mr Chidambaram said a high-level sub-committee will soon be constituted to finalise the new criteria for "backwardness." Under the new criteria, he said, Bihar would qualify for 'special status' as a backward state.
The Nitish Kumar government has been demanding special status for Bihar for several years. "Whoever empathises with and helps backward states will come to power in Delhi" Mr Kumar, whose party the Janata Dal (United) partners with the BJP in the state and nationally? had said in March, warning that "if special status for Bihar is not granted now, you will have no choice but to implement it after 2014."
The Congress' acknowledgement that it is considering the chief minister's request has been interpreted as a sign of the party's wooing of Mr Kumar away from his alliance with the BJP.