New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held a meeting with his deputy Tejaswi Yadav on Tuesday for the first time amid coalition crisis arising due to registration of a case against Yadav by CBI in land for railway hotels case. The meeting assumes special significance in view of the fact that CM has not reacted to the corruption allegations against Tejaswi except asking him to give point-by-point rebuttal to CBI charges.

According to reports, Tejashwi met Nitish in the chief minister's chamber at the Bihar Secretariat for a one-on-one conversation that lasted around 40 minutes. The closed-door meeting comes amid speculation that the ruling grand alliance in Bihar is in troubled straits following the allegations of corruption against Tejashwi, his father RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and other family members.

While rumours of an intra-alliance crisis have been repeatedly denied by the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress, there has been a mounting pressure on Lalu's party to come clean on the corruption allegations. However, despite reassurances, signs of a growing rift between JD(U) and the RJD have been manifesting over the last few days as the calls for the scam-tainted Yadav scion's resignation continue to grow louder.

JD(U) chief spokesman Sanjay Singh has said that the RJD should provide facts about the corruption charges and not "display arrogance" of having 80 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. Echoing the sentiment, fellow party leader Pavan Varma said the RJD should come out with a substantive rejoinder to maintain the grand alliance's image.

"We have made our position clear. The RJD leaders against whom allegations have been made must give a public rejoinder which is substantive and factual... If Tejaswi Yadav or other members of Lalu Prasad's family, who believe they have been targeted as these charges are false or politically motivated, then they need to place in the public realm a factual and point-by-point rebuttal," Varma said.

Some party members have openly appealed to Nitish and Lalu to come together and "save" the grand alliance from collapse, while others turned to ally Congress to mediate.

"Lalu and Nitish Kumar should sit together, talk to each other to end the crisis," RJD leader Ragunath Jha said on Sunday, hours after senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav met with Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss various options to defuse the crisis in Bihar.