Chief minister Nitish Kumar at the reception of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley’s daughter’s marriage and (below) greets Sonia Gandhi on her birthday at her residence in New Delhi on Wednesday. From the moment chief minister Nitish Kumar announced he would attend the wedding reception of Arun Jaitley’s daughter Sonali in New Delhi, there was feverish speculation whether the CM would use the occasion to break the ice with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was also invited to the reception along with a galaxy of other political stars. But the buzz turned out unfounded, after all. Nitish did bless the couple, but there was no photo-op with the PM, nor any gesture to highlight on Wednesday.

...and the birthday lady

In the evening, Nitish went to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence and wished her on her 69th birthday. He also congratulated her over the victory of Grand Alliance in the Bihar Assembly polls and assured her of all possible assistance in the future as well.

Text by Dev Raj, Telegraph pictures