All top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister NarendraModi, made it a poll issue this time that the saffron party had “made a sacrifice” by making Nitish Kumar the Bihar Chief Minister in 2005, but never admitted it even once that it had done so because of the senior JD(U) leader’s popularity and credibility with the masses, Chaudhary said in a statement.
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Sources in the CMO in Patna said Mr Nitish Kumar gave a personal touch to the invitations by telephoning all leaders and requesting them to come for the event.
Mr. Kumar talked to the PM over telephone and extended his invitation for the oath function at Gandhi Maidan at 2 p.m. on November 20, sources in the Chief Minister’s office said.
“All the credit goes to Modiji for the number seats won by BJP in Bihar and there should not be any doubt about it”, Mr. Sinha said while taking a jibe at the PM. The call by Nitish to PM is seen as a reciprocal gesture because Modi had called him to extend his congratulations on the day results of Bihar assembly election was declared and the RJD-JD(U)-Congress Mahagathbandhan secured a landslide victory.
In this case, Nitish Kumar is definitely the best CM Bihar has had in a long time and people voted for the alliance because he was the Chief Ministerial candidate. The mega “anti-NDA” function will be attended by a galaxy of non-NDA leaders, such as Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi, former PM H D Deve Gowda, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
JD-U leaders say the event – where the star attraction will be RJD chief Lalu Prasad – will mark a new beginning of opposition unity in the country.
In the recently held elections to the 243-seat Bihar Assembly, the grand alliance won 178 seats, including RJD – 80, Janata Dal (United) 71 and Congress 27.
But no invitation has been sent to any other BJP leader, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.
In such a scenario, without adequate majority on his own, what kind of progress will Nitish Kumar be allowed to persist with? The Samajwadi party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav pulled out of the “grand alliance” ahead of the Bihar polls.
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“The priority for the new government will progress with justice and inclusive growth”, the future chief minister of Bihar added.
