The first day of 2015 proved to be a show of bonhomie among political parties.

The crowd count, however, at RJD chief Lalu Prasad's home was the most impressive. Lalu got both RJD cadres and JDU leaders and ministers calling on him to greet him. Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, too, was among the visitors at 10 Circular Road.

Incidentally, This was Manjhi's first visit to Lalu's home after becoming the chief minister.

The scene of bonhomie among the JDU and RJD cadres at Lalu's home made it abundantly clear that the two parties were on the course of a merger in 2015. Manjhi indicated it also in clear terms. Having met Lalu, Manjhi said: 'The voters got divided in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections because the secular parties contested separately. 2015 will be a different year. It is a crucial year but we are strong and united to face the challenge.'

Manjhi's cabinet colleagues, Bhim Singh and Shyam Rajak, too, met Lalu and Rabri. Before switching over to Nitish Kumar's JDU, both Bhim and Rajak were close lieutenants of Lalu for decades. A close enquiry revealed that the incumbent legislators and ministers met Lalu to ensure their tickets in the new political order shaping up in the state. There were several fresh activists, who met Lalu in an apparent bid to create space for them in the new arrangement that might come after the JDU-RJD merger.

Nitish, as usual, had gone to his Kalyanbigha home in Nalanda district to pay tributes to his mother Parmeshwari Devi. Parmeshwari had died on January 1 in 2011. However, he too received a torrent of visitors at his 7 Circular Road home after 4pm when he returned. The visitors primarily consisted of Manjhi' ministers, JDU legislators and other party volunteers.

At the 1 Polo Road home of Sushil Kumar Modi, ticket-seekers turned up in large numbers. The BJP has been the flavour of the season and as such Modi appeared attracting the crowd of leaders trying their luck with both the RJD-JDU combination and also the BJP. Though the crowd at his house was thinner than that of Lalu's, Modi got some bureaucrats and bureaucrat-turned leaders who had contested the 2014 polls on the JDU ticket, calling on him.

The visitors at Modi's home included former IAS officer K.P. Ramaiyah, who had contested from Sasaram on a JDU ticket. Among the incumbent IAS officers, who called on Modi, included principal secretary, panchayati raj, Sashi Shekhar Sharma, and principal secretary, disaster management, Vyasji.

Bihar Public Service Commission member (BPSC) Ramkishore Singh was heard shouting slogans in favour of Modi. He had switched over to the JDU from BJP to become a BPSC member. Today's action suggested that he might be itching for ghar wapsi (return home) in the BJP again.

Manjhi, too, was greeted by his cabinet colleagues and bureaucrats. Among the ministers calling on Manjhi were Mahachandra Prasad Singh, Nitish Mishra, P.K. Shahi and Vinod Prasad Yadav. There were, however, very few MLAs at Manjhi's 1 Aney Marg home.