Patna: The BJP has rubbished talk of tension within the Bihar NDA, saying Nitish Kumar was their big brother in Bihar and Narendra Modi his big brother at the Centre.

BJP national spokesperson and former Union minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain denied any tussle among alliance partners on the seat-sharing issue. The statement comes ahead of BJP national president Amit Shah's scheduled visit on July 12. Shah is scheduled to visit Bihar after almost 18 months. The last time Shah was here, in January 2017, the JDU was part of the Grand Alliance. It has now returned to the NDA camp.

Shahnawaz held a meeting with JDU national president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday evening. "I had gone to meet the chief minister in connection with construction of a bridge across the river Ganga, parallel to the existing Vikramshila bridge, and had a very cordial meeting with him," Shahnawaz told The Telegraph.

After the meeting, he claimed the Congress and the RJD were spreading rumours about tensions in the NDA but their sinister designs would be exposed as the BJP and the JDU will contest the 2019 elections under the NDA to make Narendra Modi prime minister again. Shahnawaz played down the war of words between some BJP and JDU leaders over the role to be played in the general elections. "Nitish is our big brother in Bihar, and Narendra Modi his big brother at the Centre," Shahnawaz said. "In fact, our relation is that of mutual respect, so from where does the question of big or small come in?"

Asked about recent statements by some JDU leaders that their party will contest the largest number of seats in Bihar and BJP leaders' claim that the BJP would at least contest the 22 seats it won in 2014, Shahnawaz said: "Till now, no talks on the seat-sharing issue have taken place. A final call will be taken by Prime Minister Modi, our president Amit Shah and JDU president Nitish Kumar."

But the Congress said state leaders would request the party high command to bring the JDU back into the Grand Alliance should it leave the NDA. "If Nitish decides to end its truck with the BJP, I would definitely request the party high command to widen the Grand Alliance base by uniting all secular forces," Congress legislature party leader in the state Assembly, Sadanand Singh, said.

He, however, maintained that till now no such indication had come from the JDU.