The much talked about lunch: Nitish with Modi. While the media has been going to town speculating over Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar skipping Sonia Gandhi’s lunch for unity, the suave politician that Nitish is, he will be keeping his options for the future open. The BJP would want him to stay away from the so-called opposition unity as only he could lend the ‘Front’ some credibility. Nitish has also ruled Bihar with the help of the BJP, so he is not likely to be averse to some realignment especially with the government hunting down his Bihar partner Lalu Yadav.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that opposition unity on the issue of the presidential election is intact and clarified that he came to attend the lunch hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as it was in honour of the visiting Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.
“Opposition is united on the issue of presidential election,” Nitish Kumar told reporters after meeting the Prime Minister.
The JD-U president said it was unfair to compare the luncheon meeting organised by Sonia Gandhi on Friday for opposition leaders, with that hosted by Modi, and added that it was “always clear” that Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav would go for the opposition meeting.
“Half of the population in Mauritius is of Bihari origin. We have an emotional connect with Mauritius so I thought it is appropriate to accept the invitation,” Nitish Kumar said.
Asked about his skipping the Friday opposition meet, Kumar said: “What is the connection between the two? I have already met Sonia Gandhi on April 20.”
“It was already decided that Sharadji will go for that meet. The invitation for today was for the Bihar Chief Minister,” he said.
“Comparing the two is a misinterpretation of the situation,” he added.
He also said that he urged the Prime Minister to send a team of experts before the arrival of monsoon to study the situation of flooding in his state.
He handed over a letter to Prime Minister Modi demanding special grants for Bihar. “We have the mandate of people, we have a ‘Mahagatbandhan’ (grand alliance). Raising the issues of the state with the Centre is our duty,” he added.
“The Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri @NitishKumar met PM Shri @narendramodi in New Delhi today,” PMO said in a tweet. (IANS)