India's main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party has always lost more while in a coalition government. Mayawati has been notorious in ditching them, Janata Dal's various factions are no better. One did the same in Orissa (with Naveen Patnaik ditching BJP partners on the even of Assembly elections).

The latest is Bihar's Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal United that is running a coalition government with the BJP. By all accounts Nitish is supposed to be a doing a good job of governing the state and transforming it from the backward Laluland to a progressively advancing and organized Nitish-BJP state.

However, as happened with coalition partners that have taken advantage of BJP and played roughshod whenever the other partner liked, Nitish Kumar also had his tantrums. Bihar Assembly elections are just a few months away and he saw the chance of distancing himself from the "communal" BJP to appease his Muslim voters. He took umbrage at a Gujarat ad that showed Nitish with Gujarat's BJP Chief Minister who has taken his state at the top of economic and social chart.

That started a bitter showdown that so far has not ended in a divorce but things are far from being comfortable for both the parties. Things are not very happy for the coalition though a patch-up of sorts is in place.

Nitish had - rater overreacted - at the Gujarat ad and threatened to sue the parties responsible for showing both the leaders in one photo. Modi reacted with mentioning how much Gujarat helped Bihar in its need. Nitish could not digest that and promised to return the unspent Gujarat aid and promptly send back 5 crore rupees. That was an act of sheer arrogance, ungratefulness that's not done with a coalition partner. But Bihar politics has always been weird, whoever is the leader.

As if that was not enough, the news spread quickly that Nitish Kumar does not want Narendra Modi to tour and campaign in Bihar for the BJP. Nitish wanted to put a stamp on his "secular" credential and chose the mean method of showing it. That is not done with a coalition partner in the government. It is also none of the business of Nitish Kumar to dictate and demand that so and so from the coalition partner should not campaign in his state - as if the state is his fiefdom and he is the King.

That was the proverbial last straw and the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders seriously discussed parting of the ways. That might have been a better solution to this ugly situation but Indian politics is what it is. The impasse continues in a way but the controversial issues have been sent to the back burner for now.

After Nitish Kumar's decision to refund Gujarat's financial help for Kosi flood relief Modi's government described the act as "unfortunate and uncalled for," a mild response, indeed.

"It is unfortunate that they decided to return the money meant for flood victims. The aid was nothing but a humanitarian responsibility towards the plight of our fellow citizens," Jay Narayan Vyas, Gujarat Health and Tourism Minister, had said.

Reports said that Gujarat had not only given Rs 5 crore, but also two trains with relief material, doctors, paramedics, ambulances and fire brigades worth more than Rs 20 crore. "The letter from the Secretary to the Bihar Chief Minister says the funds were unutilized, so they were sending the money back. It's a shame on Nitish's government, which was not able to utilize the money even after two years and is now sending it back to us," the Minister said.
The Congress had also criticized Nitish. However, senior leader Ahmed Patel blamed Modi for "instigating" him. "He (Nitish) should have thought before returning the fund that this money does not belong to any leader. This is the money given by people of Gujarat to the people of Bihar."

BJP leader and the noted movie star Shatrughan Sinha spoke of the Bihar CM's "arrogance" and demanded that the party leadership deal with him firmly. The controversial RJD leader, and a long-time Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad described it as "an absurdity, " and asked: "Where have you (Nitish) kept the money and why did you not spend the amount received in 2008?"

Of all the people, LJP Chief Ram Vilas Paswan said, "The act of returning money is just an attempt to woo Muslim votes. Was Narendra Modi not communal when his government gave the money?"

Nitish Kumar was, some time back, described by the media as the "Best CM" in the country but now it's for everyone to see the situation where the same Chief Minister failed to utilize the aid he gets for more than two years and now returns it.

Comments are galore to express indignation at the act. "This is ample evidence that Bihar doesn't deserve any aid for any calamity it may experience in future! Why was the aid accepted in the first place and not returned earlier? The answer is at that then elections were more than two years away, now they are only four months away."

Another said, a little harsher, but to the point: "This darling of the media needs to be kicked out. The question is do the people of Bihar have the sense to do that?
Obviously Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had given a push to an agenda similar to his Orissa counterpart Naveen Patnaik's decision to split with the BJP just before the assembly polls. However, it may be pointed out that if the JD(U)-BJP split occurs it would only benefit Congress.

That's why, perhaps, the two parties have not broken up the coalition and are going slow on the rhetoric and innuendos. The opportunists in the other camps are waiting anxiously to the split and would pounce upon the opportunity to hasten it.

Those waiting in the wings are not only Congress, and Lalu-Paswan groups but Mayawati's BSP also that is dreaming big in the national political scene.

However, that has to wait as the indications are that JD(U) and BJP have almost patched up as it was being clear that their split means their government is gone. Nobody wants that especially when the elections are round the corner.

That's why some kind of truce seemed inevitable and the two sides are coming round to fight the polls jointly although seat-sharing might still pose a problem. There was a two-hour meeting last weekend between senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and Nitish Kumar; some others such as BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar and Bihar Unit Chief CP Thakur also joined the meeting in Patna.
Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi (of BJP) was also another prominent participant.

Agencies reported that "they met in a cordial atmosphere with a purpose to end all confusion that has rocked the coalition in the past two months," a senior BJP leader said, referring to Nitish-Modi ad controversy, which hogged the limelight recently.

It is being speculated that the two parties have agreed to share the 243 Assembly seats as per the formulae of the last election in October 2005. In that poll BJP contested 102 seats and the JD(U), the rest. Earlier this month, Ananth Kumar had said Narendra Modi would take part in the campaigning in Bihar to solicit votes for the coalition in the Assembly elections.

The tough stand by BJP on Modi's Bihar campaign issue seems to have been accepted by JD(U) that was earlier reported to be opposed to it. However, there was no official declaration from the Janata Dal on this issue despite Nitish Kumar's reported aversion to the Gujarat Chief Minister. Narendra Modi is one of the main campaigners for BJP and he has amply demonstrated in Gujarat and other states where BJP is in power.