Nitish Kumar skips Sonia Gandhi’s ‘unity lunch’, will be joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a lunch tomorrow.
New Delhi: In a significant development, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who skipped Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s ‘unity lunch’ held at 10 Janpath today, will be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.
As per a report, the Bihar Chief Minister, who has drawn fondness for the BJP in recent times, will be attending a lunch to be hosted by the Prime Minister at his New Delhi residence tomorrow, in the honor of his Mauritius counterpart Anerood Jugnauth.
The JD(U)’s spokesperson Ajay Alok said that it would only be an official meet between the two leaders and nothing personal would be discussed.
The development is likely to come as a huge blow for Gandhis and other Opposition parties as Nitish’s decision to meet PM Modi hints at a possible change of his stand on presidential election.
Earlier today, Kumar skipped the crucial meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi where all major Opposition parties were invited to discuss the strategy for the upcoming presidential election.
Nitish’s staying away from the meeting has raised questions over the unity of the anti-BJP front, which is trying to come together to take on Narendra Modi in 2019.
According to a media report, Kumar had earlier proposed that Pranab Mukherjee be supported by the Opposition for a second term, an offer that was turned down by the Congress chief.
The Meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi with Opposition leaders to build a consensus on the Presidential nominee, was attended by leaders of 17 parties namely JD (U), CPI, CPI-M, SP, DMK, NCP, RJD and TMC, besides some other big and small regional parties are attending the meeting.
Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Ahmed Patel, another Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, leader A.K. Antony, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, CPI-M`s Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy, CPI`s D Raja and JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav, veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajma, JD (S) member CS Puttaraju, the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Ram Gopal Yadav, Naresh Agarwal, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati, DMK leader Kanimozhi, Kerala Congress leader Jose Mani, IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty, National Conference`s working president Omar Abdullah, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) member N.K.Premachandran, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Party (JMM) MP Sanjeev Kumar, J. Iemant Soren are the attendees.
The opposition put up a grand and united show on a day that also marks the third anniversary of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.
On the other hand, the Shiv Sena, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra had proposed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s name as the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate for the country’s top constitutional post earlier too.
President Pranab Mukherjee will demit office on July 25 and Vice President Hamid Ansari will complete his second tenure in August.
