Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held a 30-minute meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a hotel in Patna, fuelling intense speculation over the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) seat-sharing arrangement ahead of the assembly elections slated for October-November 2025.

Both leaders later shared photographs of the meeting on social media. Nitish Kumar was seen offering a bouquet to Shah, with the Union Home Minister posting in Hindi: “Met Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in Patna today.” Kumar also wrote: “Met honourable Union Home Minister Amit Shah today.”

Although sources quoted by PTI described the meeting as “a courtesy call,” the presence of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, state minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, and JD-U working president Sanjay Kumar Jha added weight to the growing buzz about a looming seat-sharing deal.

The meeting comes amid rising demands from smaller NDA allies in Bihar. Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is reportedly seeking 40 seats, though the BJP has so far offered only 25. Meanwhile, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief and Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi openly expressed frustration, demanding “respectable seats” for his party. “I consider it a blot that even after 10 years of establishment, HAM remains unrecognised. I have been helping the NDA for long. So, I am begging the NDA leaders and not making a claim,” Manjhi said earlier this week.

Currently, the NDA in Bihar comprises the BJP, JD-U, LJP (Ram Vilas), HAM, and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM). In the 2020 assembly elections, the BJP and JD-U had agreed to a 121:122 seat-sharing formula, with the BJP parting with 11 seats for Mukesh Sahani’s VIP and the JD-U giving 7 seats to HAM.