Lalu Yadav's party was upset as he wasn't made to share stage with PM Modi and Nitish Kumar.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today spoke for the first time on ally Lalu Yadav's party taking offence to their leader being seated on the ground instead of with him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a religious event last week.
The Chief Minister denied any role in deciding the seating for "Prakash Parva" or Guru Gobind Singh's birth anniversary celebrations, saying it was the local Gurdwara committee's call.
On Thursday, inside a makeshift Gurdwara set up at Patna's Gandhi Maidan, Lalu Yadav and his two minister sons, Tejaswi and Tej Pratap Yadav, sat on the floor with many others, while PM Modi and Nitish Kumar were on a podium.
"It is a tradition to sit on the floor in the Gurdwara... even on the podium all those people were not on the chair...It was completely the call of the Gurdwara committee how many and who will sit where... the state has nothing to do with at least the seating," Mr Kumar said today.
Lalu Yadav, said the Chief Minister, knew about this.
"If Lalu Yadav didn't object, then why create an unnecessary controversy? Laluji himself has given a strong reply to shut the mouths of those trying to spark a controversy," he said.
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a senior leader of Lalu Yadav's RJD, had demanded last week: "Why was Lalu Yadav seated on the floor? This is a mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), then shouldn't everyone be there?"
Sources said the Gurdwara committee decided the seating in consultation with the PM's office. A state BJP leader then suggested Lalu Yadav's name was not included in the list of those who would sit with the Prime Minister.
In a veiled attack on Mr Singh as well as the BJP, Mr Kumar said "outsiders are praising Bihar but some among us can't stomach the fact".
Lalu Yadav's son Tej Pratap Yadav, Bihar's Health Minister, had earlier dismissed any controversy, saying: "Everyone sits on the floor in God's place. What can be said on it?"