Patna: Rahul Gandhi was on Friday conspicuous by his absence at the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar and his cabinet in Bihar. What could be the reason for this?

The Grand Alliance which put up a great show in the recently held Bihar elections winning 178 of 243 seats moved on to the next stage of forming the government on Friday as the leader Nitin Kumar was sworn-in with his cabinet of ministers.

The Congress Party which received a shot in the arm through the coalition was able to secure portfolios for four of its MLAs. Certainly their party Vice President would not give this momentous occasion a miss, not after the Grand Alliance breathed life into badgered party through a magnificent win!

Rahul Gandhi was however conspicuous by his absence at the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar and his cabinet in Bihar on Friday. The reason was not intentional though as bad weather delayed his flight to Patna.

Flight delayed by more than an hour due to air traffic control & related issues. Just landed in Patna! On my way to Gandhi Maidan now

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 20, 2015

Rahul sent this tweet almost an hour after the beginning of the swearing-in ceremony.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by a host of leaders including half a dozen chief ministers and a former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.

Bihar state party chief Ashok Choudhary, Madan Mohan Jha, Abdul Jalil Mastan and Awdesh Kumar Singh were the four congress MLAs who took their oaths at the ceremony.