Patna: All food and little talk - this summed up Thursday's NDA dinner unity show, which was, however, marred by the absence of ally Upendra Kushwaha, who stayed away owing to "previous engagements".

Kushwaha's absence triggered off speculation that he was upset over the BJP accepting chief minister Nitish Kumar as the NDA face in Bihar for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Kushwaha will be coming on a three-day visit to Bihar on Friday. The RLSP scurried to control the damage by saying that Kushwaha could not come to the dinner owing to "previous engagements".

RLSP sources indicated that Kushwaha is unsure about his future within the NDA ever since the entry of Nitish's JDU. His position in the NDA is shaky as he is perceived to have failed to deliver Kushwaha votes to the NDA. "He is waiting for the right time to make a decision," said a senior leader, stating that a future with the RJD was not ruled out.

Sources said the NDA show - at the Samrat Ashok Convention Centre - was all about the dinner and there was "hardly any talk". Nitish entered 15 minutes late flanked by his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and minister Nand Kishore Yadav. The chief minister left a short while later, having puri, vegetables and sweets. LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and party leaders were present in full force, as were union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ashwini Choubey and Ram Kripal Yadav.

It was a day of "reaffirming friendships" in Bihar politics as the two rival groups reached out to their allies.

In the evening, leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Yadav met Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi to talk about the "future of Indian politics".

Speaking to The Telegraph from New Delhi, Tejashwi said: "It was a fruitful meeting with Rahul Gandhi ji and we are committed to take the nation out of the climate of fear generated by the regime of Narendra Modi. I told him of the programmes we are carrying out in Bihar. We shall come out with a committed programme for farmers, youth, women and poor."

The meeting lasted, from 6.05pm to 6.45pm.

Asked about Rahul as PM candidate, Tejashwi said: "If the people of India want to see him as the Prime Minister, who can stop him. In 2014, people decided to vote for Narendra Modi to make him PM, in the same way it is for the people to decide, not you and me."