Patna, July 18: Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s marathon session with Governor Devanand Konwar yesterday is believed to have broken the ice on the five-month standoff over crucial bills related to the universities and appointment of the vice-chancellors, but the truce came at a price — human resource development minister P.K. Shahi had to leave the meeting at the behest of the governor.

Shahi, who has been critical of the governor, was part of the discussions for one-and-a-half hours, after which he was made to leave. The minister sat in another room for the next two hours when Nitish and Konwar had their one-to-one session. The entire session lasted three-and-a-half hours over fried makhana and tea.

Shahi is confident of the “positive” outcome. “It was a very meaningful meeting that encompassed all issues related to higher education. As a minister, I am confident of its positive outcome,” Shahi told The Telegraph.

Sources said Nitish used his one-to-one session to “mollify” the governor who was, apparently, peeved with Shahi and some other ministers for openly attacking him for allegedly “sitting” over crucial bills related to amendment in the universities act and appointment of VCs in as many as eight universities of the state.

What initially sparked a row between the governor and the government was the appointment of the VCs of Veer Kuer Singh University and Magadh University, which Konwar executed without “consulting” the government and which Patna High Court struck down. The universities’ bills are aimed at curtailing the power of the governor as chancellor of the universities.

The sources suspected that few governors would like signing on bills curtailing their powers.

Moreover, the governor also found the government in the “wrong box” in the context of the Bihar Administrative Tribunal Bill, 2011 and returned it.

While returning it on June 4, the Raj Bhavan secretariat pointed out that the law secretary, who described the content of a similar bill in 2010 as “money bill”, had described the administrative tribunal bill 2011 as a non-financial one. “It is found that the administrative tribunal bill 1985 passed by Parliament was categorised as a financial bill and as such the Bihar bill is a money bill requiring the governor’s approval for introducing it,” the Raj Bhavan wrote while sending it back.

But the main bone of contention between the Raj Bhavan and the government has been bills related to the educational institutions passed by the state legislature during the budget session this year, which the governor has so far refused to clear.

Sources revealed that the dialogue between Nitish and the governor, with Shahi too participating in it, was primarily confined to issues related to higher education. It was for the first time that Nitish had a formal meeting with the governor on the issue of higher education and bills related to it.

Though Nitish has so far refrained from speaking anything against the governor, his deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi, recently joined Shahi in “attacking” Raj Bhavan for “sitting” over important bills and creating “hurdles” in the way of the state’s progress.

The sources said Konwar expressed his “frustration” over the ministers speaking against him at the “drop of a hat”, at which the chief minister assured him that ministers would be reined in.

After the meeting with the governor was over, Nitish had a long session with Shahi and some other ministers, at which, sources said he advised “restraint”.