Patna: The BJP received some good news today from a friend who's been acting distant lately. Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, said today that he will contest the general elections in partnership with the BJP. Mr Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United), co-governs Bihar with the BJP. Their relationship has been fractious recently, with both sides stating that they would contest the elections in 2014 independently. Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats; in the last election, Mr Kumar's party fought 25 seats and the BJP contested the other 15.