Nitish Kumar has made it a point to keep his distance from PM Modi since the 2012 Gujarat riots.
The much-publicised rally where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will share stage to begin the NDA's election campaign in Bihar, will be held in Patna on March 3. This was announced by the NDA leaders of the state at a joint press conference in Patna on Sunday.
The "Hisab do, Hisab lo" rally will not only present a report card of the five years of Narendra Modi government but also question the 55-year Congress rule and 15-year regime of Lalu Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi, said state BJP chief Nityanand Rai.
The rally will have another first - arch-rivals Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan will join hands to seek votes for PM Modi.
Mr Kumar has made it a point to keep his distance from PM Modi since the 2012 riots in Gujarat, refusing to allow him to campaign in Bihar. When his name got the BJP approval for the top job in 2013, Mr Kumar had ended his long alliance with the BJP.
Though he renewed that alliance last year, ending the Grand Alliance with the Congress and Lalu Yadav, he had met the Prime Minister only during government functions.
Mr Paswan, another Bihar leader who had a similar anti-Modi stance, had however shed it after 2014. The Chief Minister's equation with the leader of the Lok Janashakti Party, had been frosty since.
But lately, Mr Kumar and Mr Paswan have increasingly found themselves on the same side, especially on the thorny issue of the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Despite clamour for beginning of temple construction from right-wing groups and a section of the BJP, both leaders said temple was not an agenda for the NDA and they would prefer to go by the court's verdict on the issue.