Patna, Feb. 17: Lawmakers loyal to Nitish Kumar are in for some royal treatment - five back-to-back parties in two-and-a-half days.

Delightful dishes would be on their platter at least till chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's floor test in the Assembly on February 20. The series of treats began tonight. JDU MLC Vinod Kumar Singh was the host. The grand dinner would be hosted by none other than Nitish on Thursday, the night before the number games in the House.

The series of parties for Nitish loyalists is identical to RJD chief Lalu Prasad's dinner diplomacy in 2000, when Nitish was sworn in as the chief minister despite lacking majority. Lalu hosted a series of parties to keep the head count of Congress MLAs, who held the key to the government formation then.

Political observers claimed that the back-to-back parties had been lined up for the Nitish loyalists to keep the flock together.

A series of parties last month had exposed the differences between Nitish and Manjhi. Former minister Shyam Rajak had first hosted a dinner for ministers and legislators close to Nitish at his residence on January 21. Former minister and Dinara MLA Jai Kumar Singh followed the suit.

Nitish had attended the party before the arrival of the chief minister. When Manjhi came, the lawmakers and ministers of Nitish's camp had closeted themselves in a separate room.

Nitish loyalist Arun Manjhi also hosted a party to send a message to the chief minister Manjhi's camp that even Dalits were with Nitish.

The dinner diplomacy came a full circle tonight with the super hosted by JDU MLC Vinod at the residence of former minister and JDU MLA Gautam Singh in the Chajjubagh locality. This time, it was a show of unity of the JDU camp unlike those hosted last month exposing the chinks in the party.

RJD legislature party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui would treat the Nitish loyalists tomorrow in lunchtime. Senior JDU leader and former minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary would play the dinner host at his official residence 3 Desh Ratna Marg tomorrow.

On the eve of the show of strength in the Assembly, former minister Ranju Geeta has invited lawmakers to her official residence 4M Strand Road for lunch on Thursday. Nitish himself would be the dinner host at his 7 Circular Road residence the same day.

The common factor in all these parties would be the presence of Nitish, as he was in the party hosted by Vinod tonight. Only vegetarian dishes were on menu because of Maha Shivratri.

From tomorrow, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes would be served at the parties.

Vinod, the host of the first of the series of parties for Nitish loyalists before the floor test, refused to term the dinner a political gathering and said it was simply a get-together. But a senior JDU leader requesting anonymity told The Telegraph that the sole reason of the dinner party was to show the strength and to keep the MLAs at one place before the floor test.

'In the prevailing political scenario, the purpose of organising a series of lunch and dinner parties is to show the party's strength and count the heads of MLAs before the floor test. In this way, the party would be able to keep the legislators busy in something or the other,' said the JDU leader.

JDU MLA Manjeet Kumar Singh said the series of parties symbolised the victory of the Nitish's camp much before the floor test. 'This is party time for all of us as we know well that we shall win the floor test and our party would continue after February 20,' said Manjeet.

Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said his party would also start dinner parties from tomorrow onwards, but only BJP people are invited.