Patna: Strategists in the BJP are keeping a close eye on the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party's moves after its top boss and Union minister Upendra Kushwaha skipped a dinner organised by the NDA on Thursday attended by top leaders from the constituent parties.

To make things worse, RLSP leaders, including its working president Nagmani, openly spoke out against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar the same day.

Alarmed over the developments, BJP leaders are trying to smoothen ruffled feathers within the NDA. But they are prepared for the worst, of the RLSP possibly walking out of the NDA ahead of the 2019 general elections, said sources.

"It is a known fact that many RLSP leaders are bitter critics of chief minister Nitish Kumar," a senior BJP leader told The Telegraph. "They also know it well the Nitish is the face of the NDA in Bihar so they might find shifting to the other camp more suitable for them." He said the BJP would try to keep all NDA constituents in the alliance but it cannot stop anyone from walking out of it if one wished to do so.

Also, the sources pointed out, BJP strategists were also looking deep into the tangible benefits the RLSP brought to the table. Both in the 2015 Assembly elections as well as in the subsequent bypolls, the NDA failed to gain from the RLSP.

A BJP insider said the party looked up to Nitish, so any pressure from alliance partners would not make it change its stand vis-à-vis the JDU. "We have tested the RLSP's vote-catching ability during the 2015 Assembly elections and have no confusion when it comes to our priorities," the BJP insider said.

Even though BJP leaders avoided making any direct comment about alliance partners, just claiming that the party wanted its existing alliance intact, they did hint that the alliance with the JDU was very important for the NDA in Bihar and other constituents would have to live with this fact.

"Our alliance with the JDU has worked wonders in past elections and we see no reason to upset it," said a senior BJP leader.