Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar did not celebrate his birthday on Thursday, aggrieved over the death of nine schoolchildren and former vice-chairman of the state fishermen commission, Manibhushan Nishad, in two separate road mishaps on February 24.

Though the crowd of well-wishers, politicians, ministers, officials and common people was missing at his 1 Aney Marg official residence, greetings from different corners of the country poured in via telephone and social media platforms.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead in wishing Nitish in the morning on Twitter. "Birthday wishes to my friend and Bihar's dynamic CM Shri @NitishKumar Ji. He has always served our nation with great diligence and his role in transforming Bihar is particularly noteworthy. I pray for Nitish Ji's long life and good health," Modi tweeted. Nitish thanked the Prime Minister on the social media platform for birthday greetings and expressed his gratitude.

President Ram Nath Kovind and vice-president Venkaiah Naidu too wished him. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, too, tweeted his greetings and then the floodgates opened with Union ministers Suresh Prabhu, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ananth Kumar, Giriraj Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Rao Inderjit Singh and Babul Supriyo wishing him.

Nitish's counterparts Mehbooba Mufti (Jammu and Kashmir), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra), Nongthombam Biren Singh (Manipur) and Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh) wished him. His deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey, too, chose Twitter to greet him.

There were few greetings from the Opposition camps. He received a few phone calls, but Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not wish him.

But Rahul remembered to wish DMK working president M.K. Stalin, who shares his birthday with Nitish, and former Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, a friend of Nitish till the point he began supporting the Narendra Modi government's idea of demonetisation, wished Stalin and Buddhadeb, but chose to ignore Nitish.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad's Twitter handle is active even from jail in Ranchi, but he did not wish Nitish. Neither did either of his sons, Tej Pratap or Tejashwi.