Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was seen laughing and talking while the national anthem was being played at the national Sepak Takraw World Cup hosted in Patna on Thursday.

The incident acted like fuel to the already circulating rumours surrounding Nitish’s health.

Some three years ago, Nitish, while chairing a meeting of the NDA legislature party, had commented on the appearance of Nikki Hembrom, a woman MLA of the BJP.

She had protested the remarks, though the issue was swept under the carpet. However, since then various incidents kept occurring, whether it was the use of abusive language and unacceptable gestures while talking about women and literacy, patting a female compere at a programme, losing his cool often on minor provocations, rubbing his belly continuously, pouting the lips, chewing without anything in his mouth which have added to the list of alleged misconducts by Nitish.

Once known for impeccable manners, politeness and measured speech, Nitish has kept slipping, much to the astonishment of the people close to him and the general public. He started banging the heads of his ministers in jest or admiring the bracelet worn by a minister.

In the last couple of years, he has been seen trying to touch the feet of contractors, officials and at times Prime Minister Narendra Modi, much to everybody’s embarrassment.

“There is something amiss. We have been feeling this for the past few years. He is not the same Nitish Kumar we knew. But we do not know what to make of it. We are simply worried for him,” a senior JDU leader said.

The public was astonished to see Nitish go vacant during Dussehra last year and forget how to use the bow during Ravan Vadh. Ultimately, he let the bow and arrow fall from his hand while the other dignitaries present did the honours.

“A couple of months ago the chief minister was to fly to Delhi on a commercial flight. He reached the hangar area, which serves as the waiting room for the VIPs, with his entourage well ahead of the departure time. The boarding was yet to start and he suddenly started insisting that he had to go and sit inside the aircraft,” a senior IAS officer told The Telegraph.

“Thankfully, the aircraft was there and with a little persuasion, the airline’s crew allowed the chief minister and the people accompanying him to take their seats before the boarding commenced. Sitting inside, he again became impatient and started insisting that the aircraft should take off. He suddenly got up and went towards the cockpit where only the co-pilot was present. Thankfully, better sense prevailed and he then waited quietly,” the bureaucrat added.

A few NDA leaders have hinted that Nitish, 74, was showing symptoms of old-age-related issues. Some even wondered whether the purpose of his visit to England last year was to start medical treatment.

“Nitish should publicly apologise for disrespecting the national anthem and resign. Such incidents should not be tolerated. The future of 13 crore people of Bihar is at stake and he should resign from the chief minister’s post,” Tejashwi Prasad, the leader of the Opposition, said on Saturday.

The Opposition has also charged that Nitish has been virtually hijacked by his close associates and aides.

Sources said that there is also an ongoing effort to bring Nitish’s son Nishant into politics as his heir.

“The issue of Nitish’s health is there. Even Lalu (Prasad, RJD chief) is physically unfit. But the main thing is whether the women and 36 per cent EBC (extremely backward castes) vote bank of Nitish and the more than 30 per cent vote bank of the Yadavs and the minorities of Lalu would leave them because of their illnesses. There is a slim chance of that,” the senior RJD leader said.