Patna, April 20: The JDU was taken aback today over the sudden aggression of the RJD inside the Assembly, a day after chief minister Nitish Kumar played truant at an event he was supposed to address with Lalu Prasad.

For a change, the BJP MLAs did not enter the Well of the House. The RJD MLAs were protesting against the killing of one Kashinath Yadav in Ara recently.

"The killing was not even on the agenda of the House business but the RJD MLAs raised the issue all of a sudden," said a JDU MLA.

If that was not enough, RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui criticised the condition of the health centres, which had led to anarchy in Siwan today. He also pulled up the treasury for coming unprepared to answer questions and seeking more time from the Speaker.

"You were also a minister and I have seen you taking time for answers," retorted finance minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav.

The RJD MLAs even joined the Leader of Opposition, Nand Kishore Yadav of the BJP, when he demanded a statement from the government over agitations of 27 service associations. "It appears the merger of the JDU and the RJD is in trouble," said Nand Kishore on a lighter vein.

Later, Nand Kishore told reporters Lalu ji appeared to be angry over Nitish skipping the meeting at Gandhi Maidan yesterday. "The RJD seemed to be giving the JDU a warning," he added.

A few RJD MLAs were confused about the aggressiveness. "We were told to become aggressive against the government today," an RJD MLA said.

According to insiders, the RJD is not only miffed over Nitish not sharing the stage with Lalu yesterday. There is a clash of interest in administrative matters.

Recently, Nitish had met the RJD MLAs and asked them about their problems in their constituencies. He had even assigned ministers to talk to the RJD MLAs.

"We were asked about our choice of officials to be posted in our respective constituencies. The transfers still have to be done," said a worried RJD MLA, wondering if the relationship between Lalu and Nitish had taken a dip.

The JDU MLAs are also an angry lot over the statement of the RJD chief that many sitting MLAs would not be given tickets to contest the next Assembly polls. "Who is Lalu to decide on our tickets? We did not support Nitish in the days of political turmoil due to the revolt of Jitan Ram Manjhi so that tickets are denied to us," said a JDU MLA, stressing that the RJD chief was only causing anxiety in the JDU over the proposed merger of the two parties.

The worry for both the parties is that the heartburns are happening when both Nitish and Lalu have declared that the formal merger of the two parties was just a matter of time. "If stand-offs like today take place often we may not know how soon will be soon," said a JDU leader, who was tightlipped over the RJD MLAs' show in the Assembly today.