Speaking at an event in Patna, Nitish said that though CBI is probing the case, high court should also monitor the progress being made in the investigation.

The new case pertains to 11 women who went missing from prime accused Brijesh Thakur's another shelter home situated in Muzaffarpur.

The state is spending 20 per cent of its overall budget on education, the chief minister said. 

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had on Thursday recommended a CBI probe into the series of rapes that he described as "a heinous crime".

The decision to handover the case to the CBI was taken to prevent rumour-mongering in the state.

"Liquor ban was introduced for the poor people. they were wasting a major part of their income in buying alcohol. Domestic violence was high. I did this for betterment of poor," CM Nitish Kumar said.

Lok Sabha elections 2019: The BJP has 22 sitting MPs in the state, which has a total of 40 Lok Sabha seats. The JD(U), which fought separately in 2014, has only two MPs but has been insisting that it be given seats commensurate with its bigger tally in the state assembly.   

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who was present during the meetings on Thursday, said on Twitter in Hindi that the opposition was in a “danger zone” because of the increase in comfort level of the National Democratic Alliance.

Only few selected top leaders from both parties were reportedly invited for the dinner where the two leaders are believed to have discussed the seat sharing formula for 2019 general elections.

The two leaders will now meet over dinner hosted by Kumar at his house around 8pm and are expected to work out the differences and kick-start the process of formalising the specifics of the electoral understanding.

Principal Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat department, Arun Kumar Singh said that at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a nod has been given for the proposed amendments to be tabled in the monsoon session of the state legislature scheduled later this month.  

The two leaders are scheduled to meet over breakfast at the State Guest House and again for dinner at the chief minister's official residence today.

The meeting gains significance after JDU’s consistent insistence for playing big bother role in Bihar and on that BJP’s comment on Monday that “no one is the big brother except the people”.

It is pertinent to mention here that since a long time JDU is saying that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will play a big brother role in the state during the Lok Sabha elections 2019.

Lok Sabha elections 2019: The Bharatiya Janata Party's stand comes ahead of BJP President Amit Shah's visit to Bihar this week, during which he will meet Nitish Kumar.  

His remark came days after Prasad's younger son Tejashwi Yadav had dismissed Kumar's gesture as a "late courtesy call" in a tweet on June 27 after the RJD supremo underwent a fistula surgery at a Mumbai-based hospital.

Less than a year is left when the Lok Sabha elections 2019 will take place to constitute the 17 Lok Sabha. In Bihar, JD (U) is planning to play a dominant role.

Lok Sabha elections 2019: A day ahead of its national executive meeting in Delhi, BJP ally JD-U on Saturday categorically made it clear the party will play big brother in Bihar and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be the face of NDA in the state.

Several leaders of the Bihar-based party have demanded its preeminent position in the BJP-led NDA restored, a status it enjoyed in the alliance until 2013 when Kumar broke ties with the saffron party.

Nitish's meeting with JD-U office bearers is being watched closely as the leader is expected to articulate his party's position on a host of issues ahead of the next year's Lok Sabha polls.