Will Nitish meet Shah in Patna on Dec 10? JD-U isn’t sure

Will Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar attend the 26th eastern zonal council meeting to be chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah in Patna on December 10?

JD(U) chief spokesman Neeraj Kumar isn’t sure.

The CM had skipped the last meeting of the eastern zonal council (EZC), held in Kolkata on December 17 last year, on health grounds. Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had then represented the state.

Incidentally, Nitish Kumar has been reportedly unwell for the past few days.

The JD(U) spokesman said the chief minister was down with seasonal flu. He trashed the demand for release of Kumar’s health bulletin by former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and Union minister Giriraj Singh.

“This is an idiotic demand. It has never been in practice of issuing health bulletin for seasonal ailment. Why did not they issue any bulletin when they (Manjhi and Singh) were sick,” asked the JD(U) spokesman.

He, however, said he was not sure if the CM would attend the EZC meeting being hosted by the Bihar government or the one called by the Congress in New Delhi on December 6 in New Delhi to chalk out electoral strategy of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

“Nitish Kumar is playing a key role in uniting the opposition parties for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It’s up to him to decide who will represent in the forthcoming meetings,” said the party spokesman.

The Bihar chief minister has not attended any meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Shah after quitting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in August last year. He had last attended the last EZC meeting convened in 2016 in Ranchi, which was chaired by the then Union home minster Rajnath Singh.

However, Kumar had attended the G20 dinner hosted by President Draupadi Murmu, which was also attended by PM Modi.

Many senior BJP leaders, including former deputy CM and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi, had then said that Nitish Kumar was not feeling comfortable with the RJD and INDIA bloc. “Kumar is unhappy with INDIA bloc engagements, as he had not be nominated as its convener despite bringing all important opposition leaders under the INDIA umbrella. His party leaders are also not happy with the treatment the Congress had meted out to Kumar in Madhya Pradesh,” said another senior BJP leader, adding that Nitish Kumar had also slammed the Congress for delaying the INDIA bloc programmes due to the state elections.