Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) Founder Krishna Patel Meets Nitish

Patel, whose daughter Pallavi had defeated BJP heavyweight and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in the Assembly polls held earlier this year, met Kumar at his official residence.

"My husband had a long friendship with Nitish ji. His efforts at forging opposition unity are commendable though that was not on the agenda of our meeting," she told reporters later.

The Apna Dal (Sonelal), headed by her estranged daughter Anupriya who is an NDA ally and a Union minister, however, said the meeting does not hold much relevance saying "she has lost all assembly elections so far".

Apna Dal was founded by Patel nearly three decades ago with a view to providing a separate platform to Kurmis, a powerful OBC group.

After his death, Anupriya headed the party for some time before differences over giving a ticket to her husband in a bypoll caused a rift in the family, leading to a split in Apna Dal.

"The meeting between Krishna ji and Nitish does not hold much relevance as she has lost all the Assembly elections she has contested so far. She even lost the 2007 Assembly election when she contested as the joint candidate of BJP-JD(U) and Apna Dal alliance," a source in Apna Dal (Sonelal) said.

Krishna Patel's meeting with Kumar comes in the backdrop of the buzz that the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar, who looks forward to playing a role in national politics, may contest the next Lok Sabha polls from the adjoining state.

JD(U) leaders in Uttar Pradesh are of the view that Kumar should contest from the Kurmi-dominated seats of Phulpur, which was represented by Jawaharlal Nehru in his lifetime, and Mirzapur.

(Inputs from PTI)